RWBY:Reach
by snipars
Summary: With the detonation of the slip-space bomb aboard Ardent Prayer, that covenant vessel and Long Night of Solace find themselves in orbit over a strange world that isn't the one they were assaulting mere hours ago. Join Spartan-052 Jorge and the familiar faces of RWBY as they face on the limited covenant juggernaut in this AU. Halo & RWBY cross [Overhaul in Progress]
1. Chapter 1:Arrivals

_"There's so many stories where some brave hero decides to give their life to save the day. And because of their sacrifice, the good guys win, the survivors all cheer, and everyone lives happily ever after. But the hero... never gets to see that ending. They'll never know if their sacrifice actually made a difference. They'll never know if the day was really saved. In the end... they just have to have faith. Ain't that a bitch."_

**Long Night of Solace, Operation UPPERCUT**

"Tell them to make it count"

Jorge thrust Noble Six out of Ardent Prayer. Jorge picked up his helmet and slid it over his head, it tugged roughly at his ears the way it usually did.

"Auntie, give me the detonation codes"

"Forwarding now", the AI Replied.

Jorge has always wanted an advanced AI, but only the best got those, those like John. Jorge made do with his 'personal combat assistant' Pat, a primitive AI.

Jorge's thumb drive lit up with an ominous ruby color. He plugged it in and typed quickly. Access code accepted.

Jorge gazed down at Reach through the smooth tendrils of the plasma bay door. A great flash of light filled his vision.

Splotches of vision returned, and Jorge felt, at the very least, not dead.

Through the energy barrier Jorge no longer saw Reach; Jorge saw an entirely different celestial body. Jorge scratched at his visor trying to find purchase on a small button that would reset his visor to de-polarize from the flash, befuddled. He glared over at the malfunctioning slip space bomb. It read 'detonation successful'. Jorge did not have time to speculate. The unmistakable whir of a fuel rod cannon began to charge behind him. Jorge's training kicked in, and nearly 30 years of service had made him one with both his armor and his body. Jorge whipped his head around and saw a Majekelo, commonly known as a 'hunter', leveling a fuel rod cannon at him.

A large blast erupted from the cannon. Jorge ducked down as his energy shields complained loudly in his ears. The hunter, awaiting his cannon to re-charge, tucked its head and lowered its shoulder as it rushed Jorge. Jorge spinning quickly on his heel, maneuvered out the luminous hole in the Pelican's hull, still glowing a sickly verdant hue from the blast. Turning quickly, he leveled his chain gun for the hunters exposed back. In dismay, Jorge realized he had no barrel left on his gun, halved and dripping green plasma, sizzling absent-mindlessly where present. Letting it drop to the deck with a metallic thump, Jorge sprinted across the metallic-purple floor of Ardent Prayer's bay. Jorge's shields, slow to charge, began to whir back to life. Two beeps rose to a crescendo in his helmet, but before Jorge could react, the hunter's blast passed to the right of his thigh, grazing it enough lock out the power-assisted movement component, immobilizing it.

Jorge collapsed to the ground as his knee locked and gave in. Jorge began dragging himself towards the large glimmering shield door less than 15 paces away. The hunter advanced on him. Jorge rose unsteadily as he pushed his body away from the Hunter. The Hunter quietly leveled its massive fuel rod cannon

Blang!

Jorge threw himself into a pirouette, momentum pushing him into a haphazard sprint. Wondering the floor plummeted away from Jorge as he realized the Ardent Prayer was tilting. Jorge soared out the bay door and began his fall as the strange planet seemed to be closer to swallowing Jorge with each passing second. Shattered moon overhead, along with the massive Covenant Super Carrier Long Night of Solace, the hunter and the damaged pelican came tumbling after him. Panicking, the hunter fired its cannon, and it jolted away from the blast in the vacuum of space.

Jorge would usually brandish a bemused smirk at such a sight, but the rather large creature was hurtling towards him, viciously twirling around an unseen axis centered within its looming figure. Brilliant shadows traced by bright purple danced in Jorge's vision.

Remembering his Zero-G training back on Reach, Jorge focused on the Hunter, growing ever closer in his field of view.

Wait for it… Wait for it… Right as the creature was about to collide with him, Jorge drove his hands deep into the worms that made up the hunter. A loud smack tested his grip as the nearly 11 foot tall hunter collided into him with the force of a cannon blast. Jorge's shields dropped, and the vacuum of space began to tug uncomfortably at his wounded thigh, small strips of blood racing from Jorge. The hunter began to squirm with confusion, then began to charge his cannon once again, pointing it at his stomach in an effort to erase the unwelcome mass that now grappled onto its body.

"Oh the hell you do, you can of worms"

Jorge began to tear out fistfuls of the worms that made up the hunter.

The struggle was a silent one, for they were in space.

The cannon continued to charge, longer than usual, the hunter must have been overcharging his cannon. Rarely done, and causing a devastatingly filthy explosion, a suicidal dirty bomb. Jorge had personally seen an overcharged Fuel Rod level a building, and here he was, just a Spartan. Jorge, now clamping both legs around the hunter, sped up his tearing, pulling out rough clumps of orange worms and tossing them into the void of space. They began to enter the planet's atmosphere, and his shields began to dip. The cannon climaxed, but did not fire.

It began to whir down. Relief flooded Jorge, but he could not yet relax. Jorge peered back, a trail of worms floating behind him, glistening in the moonlight, the closest ones still wriggling, the furthest ones already having succumbed to asphyxiation, tumbled through the void motionless Long Night of Solace. Re-entry continued to tear at MLJOLNER, and then he spotted it. The Pelican in the distance, the belly was ruby red as it hurtled closer and closer to the planet. Jorge grabbed the fuel rod cannon and aimed it in the opposite direction of the pelican, towards Ardent Prayer, which now sped towards him. Lights visible from the dark side of the planet gave away the fact that intelligent life lived here.

Jorge knowing what to do fired the cannon and hurtled towards the pelican. His target was the glowing hole in its side, and with his current trajectory, added the seemingly random tumbling motions of the pelican, luck would need to be on his side.

And it usually wasn't.

Jorge fired the cannon again, jolting him faster as he raced towards the whirling bird. The pelican spun into place right in time, Jorge flying into it and hitting the wall. Hard. Stars filled his vision.

* * *

**City Interior, Kingdom of Vale**

Ruby Rose, now 25 years of age sat in her office. Twirling her coffee cup, she took a long sip before glaring at her monitor. Her scroll began to buzz, shaking her desk. She quickly removed it from the dock and opened it. 3 Ursae trapped in a dust mining pit had been discovered by the mining crew, much to the dismay of the Schnee Dust Company's bottom line. Ruby looked at the clock, only two minutes were left before her shift was over.

"Do I have to take this one, I mean, there's a killer Spruce Willis movie that I was going to-"

"C'mon Ruby, you know contract cancellations cost me an arm and a leg… well maybe just a leg. Do me a favor and take this one sis?"

"You owe me", Ruby quipped before closing the message.

Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose and, with one last swig of her cappuccino, headed towards the parking lot.

Taking a hint from Yang, Ruby had bought a motorcycle faithfully named Knockout. She attached her scythe-sniper to the exhaust and clicked her scroll into place on the dash. The GPS fired up, and Ruby roared through Vale.

After a 30-minute ride through the outskirts of Vale (and some rather un-friendly areas of the city) she reached her destination. The Achieve Men blaring on her radio, Ruby clicked it off and grabbed Crescent Rose. Ruby's boots crunched as she walked on the gravel, nearing the tin awning covering the dust pit. A roar, unmistakably an Ursa's, shook the ground, gravel rocks actually popping up from the path with the concussive force of the roar. Ruby's face remained unchanged, almost bored, confirmed as she then yawned.

"The coffee used to hit hard, gets shittier with each passing week", she groaned as she neared the pit.

Ruby clicked Crescent Rose to life, the metallic clicks cascading into a sythe, garnering the three Ursa's attention. The first one rushed her, with a single swipe of her scythe, its head lolled forward. The other two began to back up, Ruby rewarded their cowardice by pumping three high-powered rounds right into the Ursa's eye socket. It collapsed in a large heap. Enraged, the last one dashed quickly at the Red hooded women. Ruby jumped up, swinging the scythe around the last Ursa's stumpy neck. The Ursa looked confused, Ruby explained it by pulling the trigger, the recoil driving the scythe through its neck. Its head hit the ground with a sickening thump at the same time Ruby returned to the ground.

"Give me a challenge for once, guys" Ruby smiled cockily, flicking goblets of blood of Crescent Rose. Her scroll began to ring. Yang probably calling to ask her if she had finished the job yet, having your sister as the boss had its perks, but Yang expected more out of her than any other huntsmen and huntress. Then the ringing intensified, signaling she had two incoming messages. The ringing continued to intensify, vibrating to the point Ruby couldn't read what was on the screen, and it hurt to hold her scroll. Tossing it up into the air and catching it only to toss it up again minimalizing contact with her vibrating scroll, she began to walk outside. The vibrating stopped as the scroll shattered against the gravel. Ruby looked up in utter awe. There, blotting out the better part of the sky was a large bulbous spacecraft. It was a metallic purple and silver, with a large hook shaped prowl, easily the size of a city.

"What in the name of Grimm is that?"

* * *

**Temperate District, Vacuo**

Jorge lay motionless watching Long Night of Solace, having not yet set up a spire to cloak the ship, slowly sail through the sky. A sharp pain in his leg reminded him of his injury. Jorge removed the spent fuel rod cannon from his lap and tapped a switch on his thigh-plate, revealing his bloody burn. Fumbling into his backpack he pulled out a canister of bio-foam and proceeded to nurse his injury.

Looking out on the wreckage, Jorge saw a DMR laying half buried in dirt. Re-booting his HUD, he redirected some power back to his neural implant. His overcharged shields, overcharged automatically to help him survive impact turned from emerald green to a dandelion yellow before finally disappearing from view as they lowered back to normal levels. Jorge laundered away from the crashed pelican, kicking the dirt off of the DMR and loading a magazine into his rifle from his bag. He had 3 left plus the magazine already loaded, totaling at 56 medium power rifle rounds.

"Pat, where is the slip space device" Jorge asked, there being no rest for the wicked.

"Slip Space device located in this general area approximately 12 kilometers from your position" Pat droned in his artificial vocabulary.

A rough waypoint appeared in Jorge's HUD. He had always loved hikes.

Nightfall began to shroud the desert area he wandered. His A/C was working overtime, and it did little to counteract the fact he was in ½ a ton of MLJOLNER.

"Internal Temperature at 100.7 degrees Fahrenheit" Pat sounded off "Advise finding shade"

Jorge cursed the geniuses at ONI. Really? Find shade? Night is falling; the shade is coming to me. Jorge's HUD showed he was nearing his objective, closing in at 800 meters, he was now simply falling the skid the device left behind as it had slammed into this planet. Jorge saw it, but was startled when he saw what was around the slip space bomb. Two large snakes, one black, one white, where investigating the bomb; Jorge shouldered his rifle, and wondered if it would be enough to take out the two gigantic serpents.

" I would advise against rushing the hostiles, select a more stealthy method of attack," Pat cooed.

For once, Pat had given sound advice. Jorge went prone and began to slowly sneak towards the two snakes. Jorge continued to near the serpents, ungodly in size

"I see the genius in you plan, but this is not how to go about taking out a King Taijitu"

Jorge quickly spun around, pointing his DMR between the strangers' eyes, in response; the stranger leveled two green SMG's with large daggers at Jorge.

"State your business" Jorge said, realizing the man was exactly that, a man; although, he possessed purple eyes, which he found very strange.

"Calm it, my name's Ren. I've been sent to dispatch this Taijitu, but I did not know they had already sent another huntsmen" Ren slowly lowered StormFlower.

"A huntsman?" Jorge retorted, obviously confused.

"I must ask though, why would someone in the deserts of Vacuo put on that armor?" Before Ren could question further, the Taijitu became aware of their presence and began slithering towards their position.

Jorge quickly leveled his DMR and fired four rounds, each shattering a fang in the two-headed snake. The serpent let out a large hiss, venom dribbling from the jagged stumps that remained of their fangs. At the same time Ren began firing off into the black-headed serpent's eyes. Jorge noted the strange blue muzzle flash that illuminated from Rens' weapons. The black snake collapsed, dead. The white snake, now enraged, quickly closed the remaining ground and bit Jorge. Its remaining teeth shattered against Jorge's energy shield as he pumped his remaining rounds down the white snake's throat. The snake's mouth fell open and Jorge climbed out, discovering Ren, retrieving StormFlower from the white snake's red eyes. The snake itself began evaporating into black mist.

"What is the name of this colony" Jorge stammered, amazed.

"Colony? We are in Vacuo" Ren retorted matter-of-factly. "So I'm guessing you're involved with that thing" He said, pointing up at Long Night of Solace, clearly illuminated by Remnant's shattered moon.

"In a way", Jorge replied, "I need to secure that device over there and see your CO"

"Come" Ren stated simply. A strange airship with 4 prongs extending as it approached, tow cable attaching to the slip space device.

* * *

**Bridge, Long Night of Solace**

Rho 'Barutamee sat in the captain chair on the bridge of Long Night of Solace. He noted lazily that the bridge was awash with activity, more than usual. He gazed curiously at the planets moon; large chunks had splintered off and made quite a beautiful sight. Despite all the activity, none had spoken, as if afraid to upset their captain and inquire his wrath.

"Sir, we are no longer in orbit around Reach", a grunt ultra noted from his station, "In fact, judging from the data we currently have, we are no longer located in the Milky Way. These stars match no known star charts".

"Perhaps", he continued, "The high levels of human-created Shaw-Fujikawa radiation suggests something detonated a slip space bomb. Yes sir, the event matches data from a previous encounter at a forerunner world destroyed by the same device. Sir, I believe the blast has somehow…reconciled us elsewhere"

The bridge remained silent, as the captain quietly pondered the information.

"So", Rho 'Barutamee began "Moments ago, we were erasing the human held world of Reach for the glory of the covenant, and we are now in orbit around an entirely different planet, in some kind of quantum reconciliation!"

His voice raised, he grabbed his First Mate by the neck, an Elite, but Rho was taller than him. Rho 'Barutamee suspended him by the neck, choking him as he continued.

"And the only person on my bridge with enough, balls, to speak up is a… grunt!"

He threw his first mate to the deck, who rose with his energy sword in a crisp motion, insulted. 'Rho kicked the sword out of his hand and brought an energy dagger up quickly as it passed from under his first mate's jaw into his cranium. The first mate slumped to the deck unceremoniously. He beckoned to the grunt ultra

"You, what's your name?" Rho 'Barutamee quietly asked, a sharp change from his rage.

" Uhh, jegjeg, sir" replied the grunt, rather surprised.

"You have now been promoted to First Mate, seeing as there is an, opening, in the position" he sneered, looking down at the dead elite, "and someone get this scum off my bridge."

"Two vessels from the planet in-bound towards the ship, very light class, comparable to a phantom, what action should we take?" A kig-yar at his terminal spoke up suddenly

"Smite them both, ventral beam blast, show the inhabitants of this planet we are not interested in chat"

Rho watched as the ship whirred to life, a large ventral blast vaporizing the two approaching ships. Definitively overkill, but shows of power like this would get the message across; age old logic that was still sound.

Mine is bigger than theirs.

Rho 'Barutamee marched off the bridge.

"Someone give me a sit-rep on Ardent Prayer, and jegjeg, prepare a spire for a cloaking operation" Rho boomed

* * *

**City Interior, Vale**

Ruby burst into the office.

"YANG!" Ruby Yelled "YANG WHERE ARE YOU?!"

She walked over to an access terminal and quickly transferred all her files to a new scroll. After a minute of impatiently waiting, a scroll popped out of the dispenser and Ruby grabbed it. She looked at her messages.

'Ruby, take care of the Ursae and get back ASAP' –Yang

'I'm on my way back to Vale as fast as this airship can go' –Weiss

'I have summoned Team RWBY and JNPR, come quickly to Beacon' –Jaune

'Not the way I envisioned our reunion, but I'll see you at Beacon' -Pyrrha

'Boop' -Nora

The third message caught Ruby's eye. As quickly as she had come in, she left, quickly hopping onto Knockout, she sped towards Beacon. Night was falling under a strange sky.

Ruby burst through the second set of doors in the day, Jaune's office in the massive clock tower that overlooked Beacon Academy. After all, Jaune was the headmaster of Beacon, the youngest ever. The concerned eyes of six huntresses and huntsmen fell upon Ruby. They sat in chairs around Jaune's desk.

Blake, after it all went down, had gone on to be a politician, standing up for Faunus's everywhere. She had taken large strides, but nonetheless, still found time for girl's night out. She sat reading a document on her scroll.

Weiss had finally succeeded her parents, and now headed the Schnee Dust Company. Unlike Blake, her work kept her mostly in Atlas, rarely making the trip to Vale to visit.

Phyrra was the general of Vale's military forces. Her work had hardened her, but she still had the magnetic personality that people loved, she eyed her husband, Jaune, curiously.

Nora lived with Ren in Vacuo, as they were both part of a unit that takes care of the creatures of Grimm in that area, the same as how Ruby and Yang took care of creatures of Grimm that showed up in Vale.

Yang, wearing a concerned look on her face, glaring anxiously out the window anxiously tapping her prosthetic right arm, was a full-time huntress, like Ruby and Nora.

Only one person was missing…

"Wheres Ren?" Ruby asked quickly, breaking the silence.

"He's currently on the way, and he has someone with him that can shed light on what's going on" Jaune spoke calmly. Nothing betrayed his voice, and he spoke as if this was as normal as a student had asked him for directions to a class.

"Well, what do we know so far?" Ruby asked.

"Not much, not enough" Blake spoke up, obviously more in tune that the rest "But whatever it is, it doesn't seem to want to voice itself".

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"Ironwood sent up two political envoys to see what we were up against", Pyrrha spoke as her scroll began to display two small airships cruising towards the behemoth capital ship. A large burst of molten blue discharged, and when the brightness of the blast cleared, nothing remained of the political envoy. "It's a plasma weapon, and a powerful one at that. Whatever it is, it wants to be left alone".

"So what are we here for?" Yang asked

Pyrrha continued "a smaller craft of similar origin crash landed in Atlas following the appearance of the mother ship last night. After Ren arrives with our special guest, we will mount an expedition to get whatever Intel we can from that ship before they get it back"

"Assuming they even go for it" Blake spoke

"You assume they have not already," Pyrrha snapped, and it settled on everyone. There was so much they didn't know that they needed to find out.

Everyone let the finality of the situation set in, the large craft, clearly visible outside their window, was beginning to orbit back into view, as if trying to push the truth upon them. Until they knew they were not under attack, they were under attack.

Despite the speed of their flight, Jorge was surprised at how silent the ship was. Come to think of it, he couldn't see any motors or engines, it's as if they were swimming, as four large prongs on the back of the ship pulsated seemingly pushing them through the air. Ren broke the silence.

"You're not from around here, are you"?

"I'm from Reach" Jorge responded.

"Come again?"

"So we are on Vacuo you said, My AI says that the name matches no known human colonies in the UNSC"

"This part of Remnant, yeah. What is the UNSC?" Ren asked, face full of confusion.

"What is going on here"? Jorge quietly cursed to himself, even more befuddled than Ren.

For the first time in his life, Jorge's training was failing him. He was a Spartan, and all he had ever known was how to fight and survive. Perhaps the ultimate test was upon him.

* * *

**[Location Redacted]**

Salem gazed upon the alien vessel through the mist of the Scrying Eye. Her eyes flickered as she summoned a tarot card and tore it in two causing it to disintegrate. Salem threw the powder onto the floor, and it began to compound and expand as flames erupted and fleshy viscera visibly took form.

The violent reaction settled, the flames sputtering into silence. Cinder Fall now stood before Salem, naked and confused.

"Don't act so foolish, death is just as temporary as life. Its been little a decade" Salem began, pacing close to cinder

Salem grasped the side of Cinder's face in a threatening manner, pure venom in her cold voice. "Your... lack of faith will be punished another time, but that time is not now. Listen to me, here now is a chance to finish what we started all that time ago…"


	2. Chapter 2: The Slaughter

**Cassel Suburb, Vale**

Ruby sat in her desk in her bedroom. The curtains were drawn shut so she did not have to be reminded of the problem overhead, and the resulting dark in her room was punctuated only by a small lamp at her desk. Gleaming on her desk was the ½ deconstructed Crescent Rose, Ruby groaning furiously as she tried to find a way to affix a silencer to her sniper-scythe.

The past 24 hours had been a flurry, yet Jaune had delegated some tasks, and Ruby was preparing for hers. Yang, Nora, and Ruby are to join the other huntsman and set up a perimeter around Vale, to protect from the sudden influx of Grimm, or any other unexpected visitors. Weiss, Ren, and 'Noble-5', are to locate the missing ship. Jaune, Pyrrha and Blake are to coordinate military and political measures throughout the kingdoms.

"There!" Ruby said aloud, gasping with pride in having found a way to affix a silencer to her sniper.

Ruby activated Crescent Rose, and as it sprung into scythe mode, the silencer was cut clean in half.

"Shit"

* * *

**Bridge, Long Night of Solace**

"Jeg-jeg, why is Ardent Prayer not responding to our beacon?" 'Rho was growing impatient. He had already scanned the planet several times, there were no forerunner artifacts located, but outright glassing the planet before he found Ardent Prayer and the artifact it carried would be heresy.

"Ardent Prayer most likely had their communication relay damaged in the crash, and we still have no idea why they crashed the way they did, sir"

'Rho remembered back to the seconds they had first arrived here, Ardent Prayer was cruising towards his ship for a repair and re-fuel, but it also carried a priceless Forerunner artifact with curious properties he was to take to High Charity once they finished off the human world of Reach. When Ardent Prayer's repulsion engines failed, the ship went dim; some sort of EMP his crew had speculated, and then proceeded to sink to the planet. With its electronics fried, it couldn't be tracked, however, the communication relay ran on a different self-contained generator specifically for this reason.

It was clear, however, that he would have to find it manually.

"Keep the beacon active, in case they find a way to get through to us, keep scanning for the forerunner artifact, as that will take us right to them. The sooner we find this ship and its artifact, the sooner we can turn this planet into a molten ball of glass"

"And Jeg-jeg"

'Yes sir?" his first mate responded

"Launch that little operation I was telling you about earlier"

"Right away".

Jeg-jeg reached for the green light, almost sorry for what was about to occur.

* * *

**Bullhead 11-E, En Route to Beacon**

Jorge sat on a small stool aboard the Bullhead, visibly straining underneath his massive weight. Across from him, Ren sat comfortably. Weiss on the other hand, looked genuinely afraid of Jorge. Jorge quietly sighed as he took off his helmet, revealing his scarred face.

"No need to be afraid" Jorge said slow and cool, "I'm looking for answers, just like you"

With that Weiss physically relaxed, before beginning.

"So does that thing have a name?" Weiss beckoned towards the super carrier outside, faintly visible in the sky

"Long Night of Solace, it's a super carrier. You were all as lucky to end up with the largest covenant ship ever encountered on your doorstep" Jorge replied. "The one were looking for, the smaller one, is a corvette called Ardent Prayer. Less powerful, but they must want something from it, because otherwise, this planet would be gone by now"

Remnant had of course developed space craft, but they never left the planet due to the Dust Paradox. These 'ships' were massive on a scale that shook Weiss to the core and seemed little more than a daily chore to Jorge.

"So… what's aboard those ships?" Weiss continued, suddenly more fearful of Long Night of Solace as it faded into the horizon.

Ren smirked, as he had already been through these questions with Jorge, but Jorge patient nature prevailed and he began again.

"The Covenant. A group of religious creatures who are on the verge of killing every last one of my species. They possess technology far more advanced than our own, but we've held them off for some time."

"So, we are up against hyper-aggressive aliens, with technology and brute force that far outnumbers our own, probably with the ability to completely destroy Remnant at a moment's notice, and the only thing keeping them from doing so is finding the other shi. Is that about right?"

Jorge couldn't help but smirk a bit.

"Pretty much"

"Well that's just… wonderful" Weiss lamented.

Ren burst out laughing, and after a solid two minutes of laughter and dirty looks from Weiss, he stopped.

"We are completely and utterly screwed" Ren jaded, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

* * *

**Northern Mountains, Atlas**

'Ark Teramee paced within the spire, cloaked by its active camouflage, preparing to cloak Long Night of Solace. He heard a thud outside the wall as a soldier landed into the causeway after taking the gravity lift. An elite walked into the command module.

"I have received an order from 'Rho Barutamee, I am to replace you as acting commander, as they are not impressed with how long it's taking you to… delegate the cloaking of the ship."

"You seek this command position?" 'Ark asked, his voice tinged with malice.

"I have been ordered to take it" the elite roared, his energy sword crackling to life at his hip, it was a crisp blue, meaning the voltage was set very low, but the blade was very sharp.

"Then let it be so", 'Ark said as he flared up energy sword, his was a luminous white, with a high voltage, and a fog of plasma surrounding the much duller blade.

With a roar the elite rushed 'Ark. He trust forward towards 'Ark. 'Ark parried his sword sideways and pulled up, towards the elites shoulder. The elite ducked his shoulder forward as the white sword sailed over his head, then thrusting his shoulder into 'Ark's mandibles, causing him to stumble back.

"I see…" 'Ark murmured as he spit purple blood onto the floor.

'Ark lunged forwards, striking the elite's sword hard with his own, knocking it out of the other elites hand. 'Ark looked upon the contesting elite, now questioning 'Ark's course of action. The elite dove for the sword lying on the floor. 'Ark answered by driving his sword deep into the elite's stomach. Lifting him into the air, 'Ark then threw the now weak elite to the floor next to his sword. With a whoosh, his sword retracted into its handle, and 'Ark clipped it to his hip. He kneeled nest to the now dying elite, wriggling towards his sword, resting a scant few inches away.

"You fought valiantly, and the gods will reward you on the Great Journey"

'Ark quickly brought an energy dagger around before planting it deep into the elite's cranium, and he struggled no more. 'Ark grabbed the elite's energy sword from the ground and clipped it as well to his hip, one more for the collection.

Another thud came from outside as a grunt landed on the platform. He walked in

"Sir the cloak is up and we are clear for…departure" The grunt looked curiously upon the dead elite at 'Ark's feet.

"Leave it?" the grunt asked

"Leave it" 'Ark stated.

A spirit transport whirred outside, and 'Ark boarded it.

* * *

**Bay of Cleansing Purpose, Long Night of Solace**

As per 'Rho's orders, Jeg-jeg had ordered the two Hunter Supremes' to be loaded into their Orbital Insertion Pods. Hunter Supremes' gain their distinction by recovering a forerunner artifact, and being anointed by a prophet. Because of this, these kinds of hunters were given their distinctive luminous white armor, a covered plasma reactor to lower charge times on their assault cannon, and even an energy shield. They were, perhaps, the most powerful infantry force in the covenant, besides the Sharqoui. 'Rho had only 1 thing in mind for these creatures, go kill and cause havoc, because if the inhabitants of this world were potentially hiding the ship, what better way to convince them to give it up then to slaughter their civilians… and threaten more attacks to come. Jeg-jeg gave the green light to the operator, and he watched as the two Orbital Pods dropped out from Long Night of Solace, the hunters on their mission.

Hunters were very intelligent, and very strong, and the world of Remnant was not ready for what was coming their way, as these two creatures make the run of the mill Grimm look like child's play.

* * *

**Vale Coliseum, Vale**

The Vale coliseum was very simple, and obscenely large. A large circular wall, with four holes towards the northern end, functioning as both the entrance and the exit. In the center of this circle sat a small box, which atop of that were The Achieve Men.

"I just want to thank you all for coming out tonight and sticking it to the aliens!" Geoff yelled with bravado.

The crowd responded with a deafening Roar. And the Concert was underway.

The Crowd of the Achieve Men concert roared in approval as Michael tackled Gavin to the Ground while Jack continued on with his drum solo. The concert, ATX, had sold out in mere minutes and the coliseum was packed to the brim, over 150,000 people sat in the midst of the concert. Jack's drum solo ended as Geoff brought back in the vocals

"Da-da-da-dada going to miss you. Da-da-da-dada going to…" Geoff trailed off as the entire crowd looked up in unison at the glowing object in the sky.

It was growing closer by the second, but before anyone could react it slammed into a pocket of people, spraying red mist into the air as the scorched smell of flesh rose from the ruin. The crowd cried out in horror.

"Oh crap!" Geoff screamed into the mic. He was quickly hustled offstage along with the rest of the achieve men. Not a second after they were off the stage, another pod slammed into the stage, bringing another cry of horror from the crowd.

The crowd was in absolute bedlam, many tried to push for an exit, but with everyone trying to escape at once, they were blocking it more than accessing it.

Suddenly, the two capsules opened in unison, and two glowing white creatures clamored out. The stadium went dead silent as the creatures hunched down and gazed upon their confused expressions.

With no mercy, the two hunter's cannons began to glow a luminous green before erupting into a huge blast.

"Brother, block off the exits"

"Acknowledged"

The two hunters began to focus their cannons on the escape routes, turning them into rubble and killing those trying to escape in the process. Security guards tried to surge through the crowd, but to no avail. Within minutes, there was no possible escape from the coliseum. With a click they switched their assault cannons to beam mode, now mowing down the crowd as they pressed up against the walls of the stadium, trying to distance themselves from the beasts. Cries of agony, and primal fear filled the air.

It was absolute slaughter.

Occasionally an energy shield would flare up as a security guard got a clear shot towards the lumbering hunters, who were now having fun simply smashing people into the pavement. Alas, those brave enough to try to attack the hunters were killed just as quickly as those who gave in to the attacks.

In the first 3 minutes of their attack, scores upon scores of people were dead. If hunters could laugh, they would. The Luminous white of the hunter's armor was now stained with the blood of humans and faunas alike.

There was no stopping what had been set in motion.

Ruby was needling out at 150 on Knockout, speeding as fast as humanly possible towards the Achieve Men concert. Yang and Nora were also en route.

As she neared the coliseum, she began to see how bad it really was. Running down the streets were mothers holding their lifeless children in their arms, sobbing uncontrollably, and bodies laid strewn across the street, having been tossed out of the coliseum and colliding with the ceaselessly unforgiving ground.

But the worst part was the sound. The sound of an act of war so atrocious, it made Ruby's stomach heave. Deep bass thumps in unison with cries of pain and agony.

Ruby brought knockout to a quick stop and brought Crescent Rose about. The entrances were covered in rocks and rubble, and a glowing green goo. Facing Crescent Rose towards the ground and loading a + round into Crescent Rose, she pulled the trigger several times, accelerating her straight up over the lip of the stadium. She landed on top and looked in.

There she saw two large red creatures, firing some sort of green plasma into the terrorized pockets of people, all helplessly trapped. The beam would contact and rip them apart in a manner similar to what one would imagine a mulcher. There was blood and gore and piss everywhere.

Ruby wretched. Hard.

She had trained to be a huntress, but this was something different. She couldn't wait for Yang and Nora, whatever these things were, they needed to be dealt with now. With tears streaming down her face, Ruby spat her vile and made the impossible jump towards the beasts, accelerating towards the Hunter from 600 yards up. Firing her rifle to speed her up, she coiled herself and began to go into a tight spin, forming a pinwheel out of herself and Crescent Rose. The Hunter about faced towards the gunshot, and was greeted by Ruby colliding with the Hunter, his energy shield shattering with the force of impact, throwing the hunter several yards into a wall.

The hunter bellowed and fired a sustained blast at the red hooded women. Easily dodging it, Ruby began firing rounds into the Hunter's armor. The rounds pinged off. Useless.

Across the stadium, the other Hunter was now making its way towards its brother, desperately bashing people out of his way, like a man with a machete through tall grass. The hunter quickly closed ground on Ruby, and in a surprisingly agile dash brought his shield down on the girl. Ruby's aura flared up, and the concussive force bounced the shield off of Ruby's aura. The hunter stumbled back, trying to regain its footing. Ruby hooked Crescent Rose around the hunter's stumpy foot and pulled the trigger, swiping its feet out from underneath it. The hunter lay on its back like a turtle, struggling uselessly to regain its footing. Ruby jumped atop the hunter, and began firing rounds into its neck. A Bullhead roared defiantly over the stadium as it soared into view. Distracted, she looked up. A distinct roar sounded off. She turned her head in time to see the other Hunter bringing its shield forward towards Ruby very quickly.

Blam!

Ruby was smacked with unimaginable force. She flew quickly across the stadium and hit the wall, her aura finally failing her, Ruby collapsed of exhaustion. She opened her eyes and saw the creature lumbering towards her, small orange worms falling out cracks in its armor. She was too exhausted to care. The Hunter began to charge its cannon, and that's the moment Ruby lost consciousness.

Jorge sat ready with his DMR and 10 clips with some kind of 'dust cartridge', ready to drop into the stadium. Weiss and Ren sat next to him, absolutely horrified at the news that a mass terrorist act was underway. Their bullpen came into view over the coliseum. Suddenly Jorge's heart dropped. Looking in he saw two hunters with white armor, misted finely red in some places, taking on a hooded women in Red. Everywhere else, bodies lay, pooling the stadium in gore. Some wriggled, most did not. In a dark and twisted way, it reminded him of maggots in red meat.

Jorge unlatched himself from the grabber. Weiss and Ren followed suit. The hooded women had one of the hunter's on its back, when the other one smacked her into the wall. The girl, weakly moving, was helpless as the hunter moved in for the kill.

Jorge jumped towards a spot between the women and the hunter. Activating his armor lock, Jorge slammed into the ground as the fuel rod cannon fired, bouncing off of Jorge into the air. Jorge exited armor lock, the EMP disabling the hunter's shield, and dropped into a kneel. Noticing several fissures in the hunter's neck armor, Jorge began pumping rounds feverishly into the white knight. The hunter's neck blew apart as it finally gave in to the trauma. It slumped to the ground for a few seconds. A dead man trigger detonated a tank on its back, a harsh invective against Jorge's shields. The hunter was no more

"'dust' equals explosion, got it" Jorge quipped to himself

Looking for the other hunter, he saw Weiss and Ren engaging them. Weiss had summoned white glyphs, suspending the hunter in the air with its limbs outstretched. Ren jumped up and dived down, pulling Storm Flower's large daggers through the hunter's shoulders, killing the hunter.

"Ren, GET AWAY!" Jorge yelled, realizing Ren's mistake.

Ren stood atop the hunter's carcass, victorious. His eyes met Jorge, smiling.

With a brilliant flash of light, a jet of plasma shot out as the Dead man's switch fired off. When the large plume of plasma cleared, Ren and the hunter where no more.

* * *

**Atlas Embassy, Vale**

Pyrrha and Ironwood sat as reports and pictures of the attack on the Achieve Men concert flooded in, along with the generals of Minstral and Vacuo. Tears streamed down Pyrrha's face.

"Don't you see Ironwood" Pyrrha said, "They are not going to simply sod off!"

All the arguments were gone now, there was no doubt in anyone's mind. They were now at war with these creatures.

"We need to find that fucking ship and send these things back to hell" Pyrrha spoke through uncharacteristically gritted teeth as tears roughly dropped to the tile.

The generals nodded in solemn agreeance.

"General Pyrrha, the armies of Atlas will function in full coordination with Vale's forces, and I don't think Minstral and Vacuo's forces will have any problems coordinating with our forces anymore"

Ironwood eyed the two generals dangerously, his look saying it all, a professional and grim 'I told you so'.

"Whether it be with our huntsmen or huntresses, or our military might, we must no longer function as four separate kingdoms. We are Remnant now. Remnant _needs_ us" Ironwood braved.

All four generals nodded and set about constructing a plan for the future of the world.


	3. Chapter 3: Reflections

A/N

So most my chapters aim to approach 3000 words, but this one will not. This chapter is almost purely exposition, drama, and conversation. If you were looking for action, come back for Chapter 4

* * *

The Beacon Mausoleum was a mix between old tradition and new age technology. Soft green holographic tombstones complimented the stone walls. High windows made of stained glass rose with grandeur from the floor into the air, casting light upon the walkways, yet preserving the dust tombs in shadows, a solemn tribute to fallen heroes. In the back a large platform with a wooden podium stood, a candelabra resting on top, casting extra emphasis on the area.

Rows of folding chairs stretched out from the podium, and filled there were those grieving the loss of a warrior. In the front row Team RWBY and JNP sat, dressed in funeral black. Jaune took to the podium first.

"Ren was a man of few words, and this quality was what made him unique. Because he was a man of few words, they spoke louder than most. Ren was like a brother to me, he gave me advice, and kept the bullies away"

With that statement the mourners let out a brief chuckle.

"I mourn for the loss of a friend, a comrade, and a teammate". With that statement, Jaune returned to his seat.

Ruby rose, and walked towards to the podium, garnering a few chuckles as she tried to navigate in her 'lady stilts'.

"Ren, we didn't talk much, but boy, let me tell you, his Samurai Shampoo works really well, I don't think I've ever met a man with more fantastic hair then Ren"

The crowd chuckled louder this time, continuing the lightening the mood.

"I believe Ren would want us to celebrate his life"

Ruby took her seat and Pyrhha rose.

"Ren… I will not tread lightly around this. I…we will avenge him. They will pay."

Pyrhha took her seat, her eyes burning green.

After 15 more minutes of speakers, Nora, who since the news of Ren's death had not spoken, now rose.

Taking to the podium, she tried to find her voice.

"I… He was the perfect husband, the perfect teammate, and my best friend. He was the personification of love, he told me I was pretty and fed me ice cream."

Nora laughed a few tears out before continuing.

"But, more importantly, we knew each other, truly, unflinchingly. He was in my head, and I him. When a mission would go bad, or I'd be down, he'd cuddle up with me and tell me a poem."

Nora pulled a worn yellow piece of parchment out of the bottom of the podium.

"(_Removed the lyrics to I may fall for copyright reasons and in compliance with policy, sorry folks, this chapter just lost 1/2 its zest, but this part was supposed to be real emotional. Actually, here, go find the lyrics to I may Fall by Jeff Williams, read them, and return.)"_

Nora was now sobbing, but also smiling. She was reaching closure.

"He called it his 'deep as hell ninja song'", Nora said.

Nora wiped her tears from her face, putting the piece of paper in the silver dust canister.

"Jaune would you…" Jaune walked towards Nora, handing her the two green SMG's that composed Storm Flower. She placed the two SMG's in the dust box.

Grabbing a canister of fire dust, she sprinkled some in the box, and using her aura, activated it, disinter grating the poem and Storm Flower.

"From dust we came, and dust we will return" Nora said slowly.

From dust we came, and dust we will return" the mourners repeated in unison.

Placing the box on the floor, Pyrrha used her semblance to float the box containing the ashes of Ren's essence, his love and passion, to its spot. The box sunk into the rivet in the ground before a large metal latch secured it in place.

A smiling hologram of Ren smiling whirred to life, standing idly with his thumbs in his pockets.

Nora walked forward to touch it, her hand passing through Ren's hologram.

Nora cried no more, looking into Ren's holographic eyes.

The hologram spoke.

"I love you"

* * *

Jorge sat on the Roof of Ruby's house, MLJOLNER shed, he sat wearing a T-shirt and Jeans. He was staying at Ruby's house, as she had volunteered to house the Spartan. He peered into the sky.

"I know you're up there, and I'll take you down"

Yet Jorge, had now real reason to do so. With the ships here, that means they were not on Reach. His mission had been a success. He had saved Reach. But, there was something missing.

"Deja always said do the right thing… Thom sacrificed himself for a world that was not his…"

Yet, even then, Jorge had not convinced himself. His only duty was to get back to the UNSC, finish the fight.

Images of the coliseum began to fill Jorge's mind.

"They need me"

With that statement, Jorge had made up his mind. He heard the roar of a motorcycle approaching, and Ruby came to a screeching halt on her motorcycle.

"Hey!" She called up to Jorge, sliding her helmet off her head. "An old man like you is going to get hurt up there" she teased.

Jorge jumped down, landing next to Ruby, towering over the women by a foot and a 1/2.

"You really think I'm old?"

* * *

A/N

Edit:The bibliography doesn't matter, upon close examination of 's policy, I checked to see if the lyrics to I May Fall where Public Domain, they are not, so it was removed in compliance with the policy. Honestly I probably could have left it in there, but I don't want to risk having my entire story shot to hell over something that petty.

As stated in the Authors Note above, action, and a 5000 word chapter to make up for the shortness of this one is to come. Brace yourselves for Chapter 4: Cloak and Dagger.

Cheers

-Snipars

LYRICS TO 'I May Fall' BELONGS TO JEFF WILLIAMS AND ROOSTERTEETH.

Williams, Jeff. "RWBY Soundtrack/I May Fall." _RWBY Wiki_. Rooster Teeth, n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014


	4. Chapter 4: Cloak and Dagger

A/N

So now that some sappy stuff (an attempt, at least) is out of the way, the story is going to pick back up in a way. To me it feels slow, but slow is necessary sometimes. Action towards the end you don't want to miss.

This chapter is extremely long to make up for the others, so I hope you all can stomach it.

But the climax of this chapter is pretty sweet. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present Cloak and Dagger

* * *

'Rho Barutamee sat in the captain's chair, overlooking the flurry of activity as the bridge was bustling with activity. A monitor sat in front of him, replaying footage of the slaughter on the planet below as captured by the landing pods, his mandibles chewing in frustration. Not in anger, no, the hunters had done their job well, 'Rho couldn't help but feel slight empathy for the inhabitants as he watched the decked-out war machines pummel and grind the population of the coliseum out of existence; no, the hunters were not frustrating 'Rho, the appearance of a demon was. Although this demon working alongside the inhabitants only solidified in 'Rho's mind reasons they should pay, his curiosity was toward the inhabitants themselves.

Analysis had showed them to be extremely humanoid, however, they were not human. First, the warriors had a form of very powerful form of natural energy shielding. Secondly, directing his attention towards the warrior dressed in a white dress, she had _summoned _powers to hold a Hunter in the air before a man took it out, although the hunter's dead man switch had eliminated him. Finally, he paid attention to the arrival of these warriors themselves. One had jumped from the lip of the coliseum before landing on a hunter, a process that would kill any normal human, or sangheili for that matter. The other two literally fell out of a drop ship before landing. Although these abilities were impressive, they couldn't be purely natural. For as effective as the demons were for example, they relied on years of training and powerful armor to be fully operational.

Because they were not human, 'Rho did not have the mandate to exterminate them… completely, not until a major prophet approved of such things. In fact, with natural abilities like that, the induction of these creatures could prove a pivotal role in the covenant's defeat of the real humans. Alas, 'Rho would kill as many things as it took for him to find Ardent Prayer and the artifact it held.

Swiping the monitor away, 'Rho, in his golden armor, an ornate status symbol, rose from his chair.

"Fetch me 'Ark Teramee, Jeg-jeg, and clear the bridge. You may remain but I wish to have this conversation in relative privacy"

Minutes later, 'Ark, a Field Marshall in his maroon combat armor walked onto the bridge, sporting several energy swords attached to his hip, garnered from winning duels.

"What's an Unggoy doing here?" 'Ark asked.

"He has earned his spot on the bridge, never mind him"

Ignoring Jeg-jeg, the elite continued.

"If it was not heresy, I would challenge you to a duel. Sending that Ultra to confront me was pure cowardice." 'Ark's tone was dangerous, but it seemed surprisingly inside its bounds.

"Don't take it so personally, I figured you might as well add another sword to your collection, the others are getting dusty."

'Ark starred at 'Rho before bursting out into a deep hearty laugh, 'Rho joining in.

"Ah, it seems that just yesterday we were working side by side on Fumirole, you would have had your ship if it wasn't for the interference of the demon's self-sacrifice." 'Rho spoke

"Although losing the title of Ship Admiral was a dishonor, I still find honor as a Field Marshall, I lead better by example anyways"

They both laughed together. Their friendship runs deep.

"Your path on the Great Journey is sealed in brother, there is still much honor within you, besides, I have a mission for you. If completed, I'll see to it that your honor is restored"

"It is my duty to accept." 'Ark swore solemnly.

"The inhabitants of this world, they are extremely powerful, rivaling that of the human demon's we encounter from time to time. Yet, even here, marooned in a different galaxy, a demon is present. You are to lead a mission to the surface with three objectives. Find the source of the inhabitant's powers, capture one of the warriors alive, and kill the demon. Execute each order in a manner you see fit, but only in this manner will your honor be restored."

"I accept, but I ask, why do I not search for Ardent Prayer as well?"

"I have already seen to it, that task is underway" 'Rho said with a split-jaw smile.

"I see..." With that, 'Ark spun on his heel and begun to walk away.

"Wait!"

'Ark turned to attention, facing 'Rho.

'Rho handed him an energy sword with a strange hilt rapped in thorn beast leather, very ornate and exotic.

Without a second thought, 'Ark backed up before springing his blade to life. He was surprised when a blood red blade cracked to life, tinted with golden energy.

"Flick the switch on the hilt" 'Rho said.

'Ark obeyed, the blade now turning invisible, before becoming visible to 'Ark once again.

"It is visible only to you in this state, it's an heirloom of my keep I now bestow upon you. Use this on your mission"

"Thank you, brother"

'Ark clicked his sword off and walked off the bridge, he had a squad to organize.

* * *

"Jorge, wake up!"

The Spartan was on his feet instantly, his armor re-donned.

"What's the situation, Ruby?" Jorge fumbled for his DMR on the floor, attaching it to the hard box on his thigh.

"Our AA's shot down one of their ships, it was chock full of supplies!"

Ruby's grin was huge.

"They need you to come help us to figure out what to make of it"

Jorge followed Ruby out the door, and found a bullhead waiting for them, boarding it with Ruby, the VTOL took off.

* * *

In the dawn of early morning, Jorge barely made out the sleek purple through the red trees of the forever fall that made up the downed Phantom. The bullhead came to a landing next to two other bullheads.

The pilot waved them out, pulling put his scroll to play 'Flappy Nevermore', telling them he was going to also tow the equipment once Jorge was done recording it for Intel uses.

Walking towards the crash-sight he was greeted by Nora, Yang, and Blake, having already arrived.

"Blake? Aren't you doing your ambassador stuff for the other kingdoms?" Ruby asked.

"The events at… the coliseum, there's no one left to convince, all four kingdoms are ready to assist in any way possible. So, I get to take up more important matters, fighting for my friends."

The three huntresses stood around the downed Phantom, Yang gestured to Jorge, then a pile of devices and weapons recovered from the ship. Four elite bodies sat next to the cache of supplies.

"So… what do we got here?"

"Well, to start with, these are sangheili, more commonly known as elites. They make up the heart of the Covenant military, and they are a true opponent in battle. See this armor, its white, with the large shoulder pieces and the sleek headpiece, this signifies that this is a Stealth Elite, your assassins and spies. However, I'm more interested in what's attached to their backs…"

Flipping one of the dead elite's over, he detached a purple capsule from its lower back. He found only one other on a second elite.

"This" Jorge said as he removed the armor lock from his back, replacing it with the purple capsule, promptly turning invisible, "Is a Covenant Active Camouflage"

"That's… holy shit" Nora exclaimed, clearly impressed.

Jorge re-appeared, now next to the weapons pile.

"Now these…" he sifted through the pile. He began organizing the gear into piles, some with certain distinguishing features.

"First off", he gestured towards a pile of bulbous guns. "These are plasma repeaters, they have a high rate of fire, but are very inaccurate. These on the other hand, are plasma rifles, more accurate and deadly per shot then the plasma repeaters, but with a slower rate of fire.

After demonstrating each, Jorge moved over to a pile with two purple back-pack looking apparatus's.

"These are jump packs, essentially a jet pack, but with less distance per charge than a real jet pack"

Jorge clipped off the active camouflage, and attached the jump pack to his back. With a quick jump, he ascended into the air, rising a solid 50 feet before falling back to Remnant. De-attaching it, he continued. He rolled over the other two dead elites revealing a small purple triangle.

"Ah, here, we have what I have, armor lock."

He clipped it into MLJOLNER before activating it, going into a deep kneel with the covenant adaption of armor lock. His since then invisible shields now glowed a powerful white.

"Nora, take a shot at me"

"What?"

"You heard me"

Without further question, Nora unholstered Magnhild. Aiming him she took a shot, the explosion having no effect on the armor locked Spartan.

"C'mon, you can do better than that"

She began rapid firing grenades into the Spartan, creating a huge ruckus, explosive echoes ricocheting through the forest. When the smoke finally cleared the Spartan remained.

"Basic invulnerability, but it only lasts so long. MLJOLNER has a reactor built in, so it lasts longer for me than it ever will for an elite"

Jorge exited armor lock, a huge EMP burst sounding off, and the covenant equipment next to him briefly powered down.

Covenant technology whirring back to life, Jorge continued with his impromptu presentation.

"Finally, this covenant…"

Jorge starred long and hard at the Ultra Heavy Assault cannon, used for excavation, or more commonly, for demolishing anything with its beam. Yes, an Ultra Heavy assault cannon only belonged to one covenant vehicle, more of an assault platform.

"…Excavation equipment"

"This was more than a stealth mission, there's something bigger going on here, isn't there" Blake questioned, asserting herself.

Without warning, a large roar sounded off as an Ursa Major burst through the bushes.

"Hostile!" Jorge spun on his heel leveling his DMR for the bear-thing that lumbered towards him.

Before he could even let off a single shot, Nora, Yang, and Ruby had discharged their weapons in unison. A high powered sniper, a high power pistol, and grenade round hitting it square in the temple, killing it instantly. This was reflex to them. The Ursa fell over, very much a dead Ursa.

Panting slightly, Blake faced back to Jorge.

"So… what is that?" Jorge quizzically asked, gazing at the dead black bear, with strange bony red markings.

"A creature of Grimm, never mind that right now, what does that excavation equipment do?" Blake retorted, staring at the assault cannon

"It's more of an assault cannon. I've only ever seen this type of assault cannon on one device, and you're not going to like it. Seems like we both have things to explain"

Jorge took a seat, it was going to be hard to spell this out to them.

* * *

'Ark had captured the one known as 'Neptune' after a rather intense battle. In the Covenant outpost, surrounded by the Cloaking Spire, Neptune sat behind the energy barrier of a Covenant brig.

'Ark was close to completing a step of his mission, a Lich was on the way to transport Neptune safely to Long Night of Solace, as the inhabitants had shown some fighting capability by shooting down the Phantom designated for transporting the Ultra Heavy Assault Cannon.

Great, thought 'Ark, I suffer yet another delay on my quest for an Ultra Heavy Assault Platform, known more simply as a Scarab.

The scarab served dual purpose, to assault and to mine, which if he could… persuade… more information out of Neptune, would most definitively be needed for obtaining this 'dust' that made these humanoids tick.

Walking into the brig, 'Ark raised his voice.

"Neptune, I bring nutrition", speaking perfect English.

"I don't need your food, tentacle face"

Dropping the tray, 'Ark slammed the cell door button, the energy door collapsed and 'Ark stormed into the cell. Grabbing Neptune by the base of his throat he lifted him up into the air, pinning him to the wall at the same time.

"I have orders to bring an inhabitant back, nothing says I have to bring you back alive", 'Ark lied.

'Ark knew full well he couldn't kill this one, hell, capturing this one had cost him a good 40 men, discounting the numerous Unggoy he slaughtered. This warrior fought well, but was eventually subdued by overwhelming numbers. Regardless, scaring him into submission could prove invaluable.

"So I suggest you accept what little hospitality I possess when I offer it, you swine"

'Ark flared up the energy dagger on his gauntlet and stabbed into Neptune's thigh, letting the plasma sizzle before quickly pulling out, the heat of the blade instantly cauterizing the wound.

"aaaghhhhfuck!" Neptune tried his best to hold in his pain.

'Ark dropped the warrior to the floor.

"I suggest you cooperate if you want to make it out alive, call it an Intel swap. I'll tell you some Intel, and you'll tell me some of yours" 'Ark sneered.

Neptune looked upon 'Ark with resentment, 'Ark having already won.

Ark spun to walk out, the energy barrier activating once again.

"I'll send in a medical Unggoy, as a sign of my… hospitality", 'Ark laughed as the door to the brig closed.

* * *

Jorge and Yang carried the Ultra Heavy Assault Cannon over to the bullhead, which was shockingly enough, ultra heavy. Even with Yang's strength and Jorge's MLJOLNER, it was a difficult carry, but they eventually succeeded in loading it onto the bullhead, which would travel to Atlas to be deconstructed and studied.

The rest of the covenant technologies, however, would be coming back to Vale. Jorge had convinced Blake of all the uses the tech would possess.

Most of all however, the girls seems excited about the armor abilities.

Jorge had equipped a jump pack and an active camouflage armor ability to MLJOLNER, having given up his UNSC armor lock to Nora.

Yang had taken the other jump jet in a hurry.

Blake took the armor lock, saving two armor locks for Jaune and Pyrrha.

Leaving Ruby with the other active camouflage, not that she was complaining.

Only problem now was finding a way to make them run off of the Dust, instead of reactor energy. Nora insisted it was do-able, and had a man for the job, but Jorge didn't understand how their magic elemental crap could run an Armor Ability.

Let the kids dream, Jorge thought to himself.

On the ride back to Vale in the bullhead, a question struck Jorge he was surprised he hadn't asked yet.

"So how do you guys speak English, if you are isolated from the UNSC?"

"English? What's that? We speak Standard", Ruby piped up. "So you call it 'English', sounds like a dirty sex word, gross. It's called Standard here on Remnant"

Yang leaned over and smacked Ruby on the arm.

"Can't you be mature for once in your life, especially around the elderly." Yang scolded.

"Seriously, I'm only 41, I'm not that old"

"Whatever you say, gramps" Yang teased.

Jorge sighed.

"You're 27, meaning I'm 14 years older than you, it's not possible to be your grandfather"

"Do you take everything literally?" Yang, partially teasing and partially asking.

"Of course, everything is credible Intel aboard the UNSC Jorge" Jorge half joked, as that statement carried some truth behind it.

"Did you just refer to yourself as a sea vessel?"

* * *

'Ark had already spilled some major beans about his plan to Neptune, to make him feel like he was actually going to release him upon giving 'Ark the information he needed. Neptune in return however, had actually bought it, and had been explaining the complex world of 'Remnant' to 'Ark.

"So you are called Huntsman and Huntresses, Interesting" 'Ark continued, "So how does that natural energy shield work?"

"You mean aura, that's a manifestation of one's soul, all creatures, except the creatures of Grimm possess it. It can be used for a variety of things, to, as you put it act like an energy shield, or to activate and trigger Dust" Neptune answered.

"Final question then you can run back to your fellow pigs, what are those weapons you possess?" 'Ark asked.

"Unlike the standard equipment that armies like those of Atlas and Mistral, and yours employ; Huntsmen and Huntresses each create their own unique weapon at Signal Academy, no weapon you will ever encounter will be the same as the next, and all are powerful in the hands of those who weld it and those only. Years of training have made us very adept with our weapons, and were used to fighting large invading forces" Neptune answered.

"Those creatures of Grimm your planet still have yet to master show how primitive you really are. It's almost insulting to compare us to those simple animals"

"Oh, and one last thing I forgot to mention…"

Neptune eyed his Trident-gun resting in a Weapon holder a few dozen meters behind 'Ark, who had drawn a strange object into his hand, like the handle to something.

"Semblance. Most warriors with their auras under control unlock something called a semblance, a special ability granted through training and luck"

"What's your semblance?" 'Ark asked.

Neptune flashed quickly, appearing at his weapon.

"Short distance dashing"

Neptune grabbed his Trident and tried to jump in the air, discounting his leg injury, causing him to awkwardly stumble into 'Ark's outstretched hand.

Neptune felt something hot stab into his stomach, 'Arks energy sword now faded into view, its crimson-gold embrace buried deep into Neptune form from 'Ark's outstretched hand.

Neptune coughed up thick goblets of blood before passing out onto the floor, his goggles falling off his head.

'Ark slung the injured humanoid over his shoulder, leaving the goggles in the cell, and leaved the brig, carrying Neptune to the medical bay.

"By the prophets, I hope your will to live be a strong one, because aboard Long Night of Solace, you will be utterly at the mercy of 'Rho Barutamee.

Neptune's goggles, with recording capabilities, continued to Record. Meanwhile, it set out a geobeacon, broadcasting the location of the goggles, to HuntOps Headquarters in Vale.

* * *

Nora had held up to her end of the deal, the Armor Abilities looked slightly modified, however, they worked for the Huntresses.

To Jorge, it didn't make a lick of sense.

Although the Armor Abilities had been a pleasant surprise, Ruby's surprise had been better.

"So how you liking it?" Ruby asked.

Jorge's DMR, now with Drum magazines and lower powered bullets, with a tri-rotating barrel, with the flick of a switch, rolled into a sniping rifle with an infrared scope and silencer. Flipping the switch back, it changed back into its DMR state as a medium-powered machine gun.

Pressing down a button, Jorge watched as his DMR folded into an oversized Trench Knife with a wicked looking brass knuckle hand guard and elongated blade, cresting into a tactical tanto point at the top.

"This is pretty sweet, Ruby"

"So, what are you going to name it?"

Jorge thought long and hard.

"Thom's Retribution"

* * *

Minutes later, Weiss entered with a concerned expression on her face.

"They captured Neptune, and we know where he's at, were tracking his goggles now. Problem is, we already sent Dove and Winchester to investigate, neither have yet to return or activate their beacons"

"I fear the worst for Dove and Winchester, however, Neptune is probably still alive, and we need to get to him before he spills any information to the enemy. Better yet, his goggles have a record function, if it's rolling, the information could prove to be decisive."

She looked at Jorge and Ruby, noticing the active camouflage attached to their lower backs.

"You ever figure out how to get that silencer on Crescent Rose?" Weiss asked Ruby.

"Of course"

"Great, will you and Jorge go confirm Cardin and Dove's death and retrieve the goggles at the very least, assuming my Neptune is…"

Weiss stopped for a minute, regaining her composer, she continued

"Confirm the KIA's, get the goggles, stay alive, and… bring my Neptune home"

* * *

Jorge sat in his snowy ghillie suit, next to Ruby in a white cloak, both blending in with the snow in the snow of Mistral's mountains, overlooking the area the beacon showed Neptune to be. There sat a large dome, easily recognizable as a covenant spire, preventing any vehicles from entering, yet the inside was so highly defended that a ground operation is certain suicide.

During Reach's invasion, Long Night of Solace had set up several Covenant Spires, like this one. Besides being used to cloak Long Night of Solace, it could actually teleport large objects from LNoS directly to Remnant's surface.

A covenant spire was an invasion platform.

Night was falling on Remnant, and Beowulfs could be heard howling in the distance. Jorge spoke into his HuntsCOMM channel, allowing Ruby, or 'Red', 'Over Watch' or Yang, and Jorge, Noble 5, to communicate.

"Over watch, this is Noble 5, Clock reads 2130, can I get a confirmation on green light to engage" Jorge spoke into MLJOLNER's interface, which connected to a scroll in his hard case, allowing him to communicate with Beacon.

"Over watch to Noble 5, you are green light for go, deploy the surveillance drone now, patching Red into the channel over" Yang's voice held a tinge of jealousy in it, Jorge could tell she wanted to be in the battle, but she also had a high level of professionalism. She was here to work, and keep them both alive.

Jorge grabbed the paper-airplane looking contraption and flicked the switch, it immediately launched off into the sky.

"Over watch to Noble 5 and Red, There's a large pack of Beowulfs, 500 or so southeast of your position, try not to make too much noise"

Jorge looked down at Thom's Retribution, its thermal scope attached along with the silencer.

"Noble 5 to Red, is your silencer functioning?"

"Red to Noble 5, silencer is optimal, no hostiles yet to leave the dome"

Jorge pulled his scroll out of his hard case, showing the location of Neptune's goggles, they were still within the confines of the spire.

Good.

"Over watch to Cloak and Dagger", Yang now opened up the HuntsCOMM to all three of them, addressing the pair as Cloak and Dagger, "Covenant patrol managed to piss off the Beowulfs from southeast. They're hauling ass back to the Spire, here's your chance to snag a way in over"

From the southeast, 9 o'clock from their position, 8 Revenants sped towards the spire, the Beowulfs quickly closing ground.

"Red, only eliminate a pilot if a Beowulf is close in proximity, we want to make this look inconspicuous. You get firsts, I'll take my shot as planned over" Jorge whispered into the mic.

A green light flashed twice in Jorge's visor, showing Ruby had acknowledged the command. Thumbing the safety off, Jorge aimed at the Revenants, now approximately two clicks from the Spire's energy dome in the vast snowy valley the Spire sat.

Jorge watched carefully, suddenly, the pilot further most back's head jerked sideways as a large arc of purple blood followed, plastering the snow. The elite's body slumped off the Revenant, hitting the snow like a ragdoll. The Revenant coasted to a stop. Two Beowulfs jumped on the dead elite, tearing into the elite.

"Red to Over Watch, activating Active Camouflage now, moving into position"

Jorge now set his sights on the new Revenant that headed the back of the pack, now 7 strong, as the other ones where not stopping for their fallen brother.

Perfect.

Aiming at his hip, Jorge let off a shot, not killing the elite as his energy shield absorbed the blast, but the impact throwing him off his Revenant. The elite, laying on the snow, saw his impending doom as the Beowulfs surrounded him.

C'mon…

The elite went into armor lock.

"Noble 5 to Over Watch, he took the bait, elite has entered Armor Lock. Beta phase is a go"

The moment that elite exited Armor Lock, which he would have to as his energy cell has very little power for sustaining Armor Lock, it would let off an EMP burst. Yang and the others had noticed that the Grimm don't like EMP bursts.

The Beowulfs surrounded the elite, hungry for him. Jorge waited patiently for his Armor Lock to expire.

Geeuuuggh!

The EMP burst pulsated through the valley, the elite pulling out an Energy Sword to fend off the Beowulfs. The Beowulfs immediately began to back up, snarling. Giving up on the kill, they scampered back towards the area of whence the came.

Jorge zoomed in on the elite, preparing for a kill shot.

Is that elite doing a victory dance? Let me give him something to smile about.

With a silent pop, Jorge put a round right through his temple, the alien fell into the snow.

"This is Over Watch, move in for phase two"

* * *

Activating his Active Camouflage, Jorge began the ½ kilo sneak to the downed Revenants.

The clock read 2230, meaning this crawl had taken at least 45 minutes, alas, Jorge and Ruby reached their respective Revenant's at around the same time.

"Over Watch to Cloak and Dagger, move into position, once you enter the Dome I've got no more eyes on you until you exit. So stay careful, and Stay alive"

Jorge and Ruby climbed into their Revenants, each flashing green lights to show they were ready.

They began the drive towards the spire. To anyone looking on at the Revenant's it must have been comical, as it would appear they were driving themselves.

"Noble 5 to Red, prepare to roll out once we enter the Spire's dome, head left"

The Energy dome grew ever closer with each passing second as the Revenant trudged on. Covenant chatter began to pass through the Revenant's console.

"Pat, can you translate that?" Jorge asked his AI.

"Dialect unintelligible" Pat responded.

Of course, Jorge been shafted with the epitome of the word 'Dumb AI'.

Jorge knew that there'd be a small welcome party waiting for them upon entering the dome.

* * *

Jorge and Ruby could clearly make out a covenant outpost, several bulbous sections and outstretched buildings made up the outpost, with the energy spire at the center. This was drastically different from the one Jorge had encountered on Reach, this one seemed more… permanent.

That shook Ruby to the core.

The two made out large crates immediately to their left. They'd rendezvous there to go over their plan.

Jorge's HUD began beeping, meaning MLJOLNER was going to cut the power to the Active Camouflage soon. Ruby's Active Camouflage ran on her aura and dust, probably physically taking a toll on the women.

The clear-blue energy dome was about 100 meters from their approaching position.

Suddenly, they burst through, and three shade turrets opened fire on the Revenant's. Hearing Ruby let out a yelp of pain, they both dove left, taking cover behind the crates, the revenants coasting to a stop in front of the shade turrets, blocking their shots.

Distracted, Ruby's invisibility began to fail, Jorge noticed a large plasma burn on the left side of her torso. Jorge ran quickly, scooping the women up in his arms.

He could hear an elite approaching.

Ruby suddenly went limp, dropping from consciousness. Great. The Spartan slumped the injured girl over his shoulder and dashed away quickly.

Out of sight from the elite, he heard it talk in its unintelligible language.

"Deciphered as 'That was weird, Unggoy, fall back, something is amiss'", Pat droned.

Of course, now the AI can decipher sangheili speech.

Jorge looked at the injured girl on his shoulder. There, on an outcrop towards the outer edge of the dome, he saw a rocky outcrop with ample coverage, a great place to lay Ruby down, and an even better place to fall back to if something goes wrong.

They were in the belly of the beast now.

Approaching the rocks, Jorge dropped out of Active Camouflage, giving MLJOLNER a chance to rest. Laying Ruby gently on the ground like a delicate rose, he pulled out the last remaining canister of bio-foam he possessed, having given up the other to the scientist's in Atlas in hopes that they could engineer the formula. Jorge removed the nozzle and began filling the charred gape in Ruby's side. She came about consciousness slowly, looking at Jorge.

"Ruby," he spoke out loud, not through HuntsCOMM, "I need you to focus on keeping your Active Camouflage active, and it is all willpower. Once I complete the mission, I'll come back for you, I promise"

Ruby smiled weakly at Jorge, and slowly, she disappeared from view. She was a warrior.

* * *

MLJOLNER's energy allotment to his AA was recharged, activating his Active Camouflage, Jorge left the invisible women to her own devices.

He crawled up on top of one of the rocky outcroppings overlooking the front of the Covenant Outpost. Approaching the front entrance was the elite, tailed by a number of grunts that he had encountered at the crates. Now in a position of power, Jorge pulled out Thom's Retribution, taking aim at the elite, he leveled the thermal sight at the head of the alien and pulled the trigger. Pop. Collapsing in a blue heap onto the rocky snow, the grunts began to sporadically run around, both out of fear and the will to survive. Jorge slowly began placing rounds into the grunts.

Pop. Pop. Pop. With each silence pop, another grunt hit the ground, which was quickly becoming a blue snow as the grunt blood was soaked into the ground.

As the last grunt hit the ground, Jorge sprinted towards the still closed entrance to the outpost. Stepping over the many grunts that littered the door, Jorge placed his back to the side of the door, flicking Thom's Retribution into the form of the Trench Knife. With troops dying outside of their front door, someone was sure to come and investigate. Sure enough, the heavy door opened, and two hunters came lumbering out. Cannons primed, they began surveying the area, not noticing the Spartan slip into the base from behind.

Cloak active, dagger drawn, Jorge advanced down the hallway.

His scroll was now sync'd to his HUD, setting a waypoint for the location of the goggles. Only problem was that the waypoint showed the relative distance if Jorge were to walk in a straight line, which was not an option. Navigating this base would be a dangerous game of guess and check.

Approaching a fork in the long violet hallway, Jorge veered left. The Covenant were very good about finding a color scheme and sticking to it. The same universal purple and silver anointed every faucet of covenant-manufactured technology. Turning the corner quickly, he physically bumped into an elite.

Shit.

Before the elite could comprehend what had just happened, Jorge plunged his knife into the base of the elite's neck, purple blood gurgling out as Jorge covered the creature's mouth. Lowering the elite to the floor, an idea struck Jorge. Jorge grabbed a plasma grenade from the soldier's hilt, and primed it, sticking it to its forehead.

Running quickly away, it detonated, erasing most traces of the elite. It would look like an accident.

Good.

That had been too close, Jorge felt off his game, and that was unacceptable. A Spartan can never be off his game, especially when lives are at risk.

The Waypoint showed that he was nearing the brig, Jorge's mission was almost completed. Jorge approached the end of the hallway, looking at the door, he hit the button. The shield door slid open, standing in the doorway was a Field Marshall, distinguishable by his maroon armor and combat-oriented armor.

With a triple-beep, his Active Camouflage de-activated.

* * *

The fear that coursed through 'Ark's body was uncomprehend able. A demon had literally, just… appeared in front of his very eyes. However, 'Ark knew his place as a warrior, and he wouldn't back down now.

'Ark drew two energy swords into his hands, the demon drew one in return. 'Ark dove forward, swords extended, the Spartan parried and bought the pommel of the blade down on 'Ark's head, knocking him to the floor. The Spartan arced his sword through the air, trying to dive his sword into 'Ark's neck. 'Ark rolled over and thrust his legs into the demon's crotch, propelling him away from himself. Landing on his back, the Spartan rolled into a back roll, landing nimbly on his feet. 'Ark hooked his left energy sword around, the Spartan blocked it, allowing 'Ark to pull his right energy sword up into his stomach, shattering the Spartan's energy shields. Recognizing a chance to go for the kill, 'Ark pulled his swords inward in a scissor-like motion, trying to decapitate the demon. Unfortunately, the demon ducked, thrusting hard into 'Ark, tackling him to the ground.

'Ark felt a strong grip tear something from his belt, the Spartan then flared up another energy sword, pulling it towards 'Ark's throat. Instinctively, 'Ark brought up another sword quickly, covering his throat.

The Spartan, weighing in at nearly a ton, pushed down with all his might, yet the elite, positively bristling with muscle from years of combat, held his own. Still, with each second, Jorge pushed the sword closer to 'Ark's throat.

Until then, Jorge had been using his right hand to push into the sword over the elite's throat, and the left to hold his other sword hand in place. Jorge took a risk, removing his other hand, he applied two hands to the blade.

'Ark felt the sword enter his skin, it felt very sharp, as if it was merely pushing his throat out of the way, rather than roughly cutting into it. However, the ionized plasma burned with so much intensity, 'Ark couldn't help but let out a cry of pain. Realizing his right arm was suddenly free, he picked up his other energy sword and drove it deep into the demon's kidney, at that moment, everything for 'Ark went black.

Jorge rolled off the elite quickly, grasping at the two gaping holes in his sides. The only benefit to being stabbed by an energy sword was that you couldn't bleed out, as the sword naturally cauterized all wounds. However, the pain was still deep, but Jorge was no stranger to pain.

* * *

Ignoring the dying Field Marshall at his feet, Jorge stumbled past 'Ark, heading towards the Waypoint. Jorge's vision began to blur, but he could make out the faint shape of yellow spectacles. Grasping them, Jorge fumbled them into his hard case. Jorge only had one goal in mind now, get back to Ruby. He clumsily thumbed the door, it opened to reveal several grunts waiting idling around, suddenly bringing up their guns to confront the Spartan. Jorge weakly raised Thom's Retribution, letting off a hailstorm of bullets, Swiss cheesing the Unggoy that had stood before him. Jorge, one hand on his side, the other holding his weapon, began the stumble down the hallway.

The base was still unaware to the events in the brig, and were still investigating the first two occurrences, the dead squad outside the base, and the vaporized elite inside, when they heard gunshots go off.

Jorge watched as several elites rounded the corner, Jorge rewarded their haste with a barrage from Thom's retribution, they fell to the ground. Dead before they even knew what hit them. Jorge checked his HUD, his AA still had yet to recharge, rounding the corner, he saw the two hunter's from earlier charging Jorge, there was no way around them.

Jorge grabbed a plasma grenade from his pocket, measly chucking it towards the charging hunter's, he was growing weak. The grenade stuck to a hunter's faceplate. Upon detonation, the creature collapsed to the floor. Now enraged, the remaining hunter charged at Jorge. Pumping the small amount of bullets left in the drum-mag into the hunter, slowing its advance slightly. Jorge heard several small clicks, signifying he was out of ammo. Swinging Thom's Retribution over his head, it transformed into an oversized trench knife. Jorge, using his jump pack, boosted slightly into the air, barely clearing the hunter, before it could turn around, Jorge slashed hard at the exposed worms in its back, severing its spine. The second hunter collapsed, as Jorge hit the ground face first. With a quick swipe Jorge severed the assault cannon attached to the hunter's arm, stowing Thom's Retribution on his back, he grabbed the Assault Cannon.

Stumbling to his feet, Jorge's shields blaring furiously, blood and spittle plastering his cracked visor. His Active Camouflage appeared to be burned out completely, as it was accepting no charge. Yet still, through the pain, Jorge pressed on. Collapsing to his knees, he thumbed the large bay door to exit the outpost, the door opened, and he was in the clear.

* * *

Ruby sat still, the pain having subsided enough, and focused on her breathing to keep herself invisible. She had heard gunshots from inside, and not the alien kind, the kind that Jorge's weapons made. Moments later, she saw the Spartan, gripping his side, with the occasional crimson sputter jutting from his side, exit the building. He was carrying a large cannon with green tanks attached haphazardly to the side. Ruby recognized it as a Hunter's cannon. His occasional splatter left a red zigzag pattern, complimenting a blue pool of snow on the ground, no doubt from the earlier battle Ruby had been too focused to see.

From the spire, a phantom transpired into existence. Quickly pulling over Jorge's position, she watched two white clad elites with energy swords drop from the phantom, followed by a more ornate red one drop holding two swords. The phantom quickly sped away.

Ruby reached for Crescent Rose, her side flaring up again, but if Jorge could do it, so could she.

A few hundred feet from her position, she watched the elite begin to crowd the kneeled Spartan. With a sudden burst, he was lifted into the air by his jump jet, taking aim with the heavy assault cannon.

WhiiiirrrBLANG!

Two elites disintegrated with the blast, but the unexpected recoil tossed the Spartan through the air, his jump jet plowing him into the snow, dropping the assault cannon behind him. An elite jumped on him, and Ruby watched as an energy sword, the same as used by the elites, was thrust through the elite's cranium, grey matter and dark purple blood briefly jetting out. Jorge threw the elite off him as a second one mounted him. Ruby set her sight on the elite. Jorge, pinned, thrust his sword up, it was knocked sideways by the elite, who reared his sword back for the plunge.

"NO!" Shouted Ruby, letting off a silent crack through Crescent Rose.

The elite's head quickly jerked sideways as a high powered sniper round passed through his temple, falling off Jorge. The remaining three elites rushed the downed Spartan, who was stumbling to his feet.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The three elites crumpled into the snow in a heap, missing the better half of their faces.

Ruby dashes using her semblance towards the Spartan, and began trying to drag him.

Another Phantom teleported from Long Night of Solace, appearing at the Spire. Ruby handed Jorge Crescent Rose, and began dragging him. He took aim with the sniper, aiming at the occupants of the phantom, letting off several severely inaccurate shots.

"C'mon Jorge, we got to go, Now!"

Ruby pulled on MLJOLNER, barely moving the Spartan.

Two banshees came rolling down, unleashing two fuel rod blasts, hitting directly in front of and behind Cloak and Dagger.

Ruby looked quickly at her scroll, her distress beacon had been active for nearly 30 minutes now.

Jorge dropped Crescent Rose, going limp, Ruby was sure the Spartan was not dead though. Grabbing her sniper, she stood over the downed Spartan, shooting into the barrage of Jackals as they exited their drop ship, her aura flaring up hard as she sustained a sniper round every now and then.

Ruby watched as Jorge's shields began to regenerate. The banshees rolled back around, letting off another shot, this time hitting their mark.

* * *

A/N

So this is roughly 7000 words, yeah.

Cliff hanger is definitely that.

Are they dead, you'll have to find out next chapter ;)

Also, this was a bitch to write, so tell me if you like the longer wait times to bigger chapters or the shorter chapters with more frequent releases (like the past times). Look forward to your guy's feedback like always.

Cheers

-Snipars


	5. Chapter 5: Precursor

A/N

From the beginning, I've wanted to tie in another aspect of Halo into this series in a big way, and after the finishing last chapter, I realized I had my chance. As you know, our hero and heroines are currently located in a galaxy outside of the Milky Way. Let me just say, that a very special species, that long ago, fled from the Forerunners, is about to take center stage

* * *

AnteBelle could be described as female, but gender didn't really apply to his species. His status as a warrior defected AnteBelle to a 'him'. AnteBelle sat in Remnant's control room, watching as an Inheritor was being ruthlessly annihilated by the invading forces. He was awe struck, refreshing and running the scanners several times to make sure it truly was an Inheritor he was seeing on the surface, fighting valiantly despite the severe lacerations to his side.

He had tried to recreate their greatest creation, the Inheritors, on this world of which they had hidden, but they were not the same… The 'human's' who ran amok above, were known as Fragments, because they were fragments of something greater, their genome showed that.

It hurt to remember. His kind were to inherit the mantle of responsibility, before the Forerunners rose up against us, unrightfully taking what was not theirs. So many lost, ungrateful children, the Forerunners are. Yet here the Inheritor was, in Andromeda. Perhaps the Forerunner's had driven the Human's, the Inheritors, out of the galaxy as well. AnteBelle had so many questions he needed answered, but none could if the inheritor died.

With a wave of his hand, The Inheritor and the female accompanying him were teleported away from where they stood, appearing moments later appearing on a platform elevated before AnteBelle.

Two medical plates, floating gently from the ceiling, descended upon the female Fragment and the Inheritor, a green glow blazed brightly from the medical plates, illuminating the pitch black control room.

AnteBelle whisked a device over, it levitated gently over Jorge's head, before diving back into the ground.

AnteBelle had just copied the contents of the Inheritor's brain, perhaps he could learn before he asked, to avoid unnecessary questions. At the same time however, he had uploaded a memory into his brain, one of great importance to his salvation, but it would only unlock itself when needed.

The green glow stopped mere seconds after it had started, signifying that they were both fully regenerated. With the same gesture he had taken them from the battlefield with, he returned them, inside of a Fragment Air vessel heading towards their previous position.

Even though AnteBelle could easily intervene and wipe those things out of his world, he was anxious to test the Fragments ability to be a sentient species, and now the Inheritor as well.

* * *

Fate and luck are not so different, after all, one can be contributed to the other. However, if luck was on John's side, Fate was on Jorge's. He was fated to escape the slaughter of Reach, fated to reach this place, and fate will determine his future. But like all stories, fate is something that can be taken into his very capable hands.

Yang sat in the cockpit of the bullhead when the commotion started.

"YANG!" Nora screamed, running into the cockpit, "They're onboard!"

"No they are not, their distress beacon shows them to be…" Yang glanced down at it, realizing the distress beacon was now moving atop their ship. Looking back quickly, she saw Ruby and Jorge, resting on the sheet metal floor of the bullhead.

"How did they…" Yang was cut short as Covenant Artillery began pounding at the air beside them, the Spire's blue dome visible against the white in the distance.

"No time to give shit's turn us around" Nora said quickly, startled by the plasma filling the air around them.

Yang did not argue.

* * *

Jorge's eyes flew open, revealing the hazel interior, he immediately began to wretch. Green vomit splattered onto the white floor underneath him, like a slick green carpet. Blood was dripping heavily from his nose, and Jorge was not plugged into MLJOLNER. The white sheets of his bed contrasted against the red mist that plastered his pillow. The room had white walls, like the floor, ceiling and bed, the environment was sterile. Looking to his left he saw a large black scroll suspended by a thin strip of metal, showing his heart rate, respiration, oxygenation levels, etc.

Jorge was in a hospital, and he was not doing well.

His brain throbbed heavily, and left side of his torso under his ribs screamed pain profusely. Lifting his garment revealed the source of the pain, two large stitched-up slits from the energy sword accompanied him. That was going to scar.

The door swung open.

"Hello Sir!" a women with whiskers entered the room shortly.

"Anything I can" looking upon Jorge, she stopped her sentence.

"I'll get right on it"

* * *

'Ark paced furiously aboard the bridge of Long Night of Solace, grimacing from his patched-up wounds. 'Rho sat calmly in his chair, watching the events unfold on the screen before him.

"You did secure a living prisoner, although it took some… efforts... to keep the one known as Neptune living. Do be more careful with your prisoner's, if you will. Regardless, that's a task marked off from your mission."

'Rho continued.

"You also recovered some vital knowledge about what these things run on, 'dust', interesting…"

'Ark stopped in his tracks.

"We will definitely need to do more research into this 'Dust' perhaps get a hold of some of it ourselves. Despite the failure to complete your last objective when the opportunity presented itself, you will still have your chance"

'Rho approached 'Ark slowly.

"The demon chose to let you live, show it why that was a bad idea"

'Ark's mandibles quivered into the equivalent of a sinister smile.

* * *

Pyrrha overlooked Airfield Gamma, the ships of war were idle, yet the activity around them were bustling. Jorge and Ruby had located a major stronghold of Thiers, it was her and Ironwood's job to crack that giant blue egg.

Hundreds of Y fighter's named for their nimble maneuverability and the three prongs that extended from the stern of their hull, were being fueled and loaded.

Airships, large vessels a little smaller than a Covenant's Lich, with 4 long prongs extending, rose into the air as they were going over their pre-flight checklists.

Finally, bullheads loaded to the brim with troops and the occasional Huntsmen and Huntress, sat idly in the grass outside the runways.

Checking her scroll, the hard numbers appeared.

1363 troops.

150 bullheads.

200 Y Fighters.

35 Airships.

They were the tip of the spear, and the thrust would be hard.

Walking off the podium that overlooked the massive operation prepping under head, she entered Mission Control, greeted by Ironwood and Vacuo's general. Minstrel's general was pre-occupied with the defense of his kingdom, the three here aimed to knock out two birds with one stone.

The signature green monitors of Atlas's technology filled the room in a emerald light, commanders sat at their terminals, ready to command from afar.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, we are now on the clock. OPERATION: JAVELIN is now a green for go. Have all check lists finalized and prepare for deployment, ETA to location is about 35 minutes once first bird is off the ground. We will proceed as planned initially. Bullheads drop off first, have the marine's take out those guns. Y Fighters will then proceed to clear the air of any responder's swarm the egg, protect our men. Once the airspace is clear, Airships will mobilize, all units will proceed to hit the energy shield with everything we got. Once the shield is gone, proceed to phase two.

All units will hold, airships are exempt from this order, they will exhaust their firepower into turning the base into a rubble. Ground units move into neutralize all remaining hostiles, Y Fighter's provide continuous cover. After all hostiles are neutralized, pull out and regroup at Airbase Foxtrot. This will give the Covenant something to chew on next time they consider showing up."

"Pyrrha anything to add?" Ironwood concluded.

"Remember the coliseum, that's why we're here, command your men according to the instructions and" Pyrrha took her seat, sliding her headphones over her ears, tugging at her fiery red hair. "Send those things back to hell"

* * *

Jorge sat awake as Ruby entered the room, she knelt next to the Spartan.

"Guess I heal better than you" Ruby laughed weakly, smiling.

Jorge looked upon Ruby, before speaking.

"My mission directive was to retrieve the goggles, bring Neptune home, and stay alive."

Jorge looked into Ruby's grey eyes, his hazel ones locking with hers.

"I failed"

"Jorge… don't beat yourself up about Neptune" Ruby spoke quietly.

The point of my existence is to protect the innocent by completing my missions, in that order. Tell me, does it or does it not work exclusively in that order?"

Jorge's resolve was like steel, the big guy was always sentimental.

"You saved me" Ruby, almost whispering, a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"And then almost proceeded to get us both killed. Something inside me is failing, ever since I've landed here I've been… different, and I don't intend to get anyone else mindlessly killed. We already lost Ren"

Ruby visibly flinched when Jorge said Ren's name. Jorge forgets she's not as much of a machine as he is. Her caring gaze suddenly turned cold.

"The doctor says you can be released within the week, your kidney was basically mushed, but they took care of that"

Ruby quickly left the room, her red cloak following her, the door close with a slight bang.

* * *

AnteBelle floated next to an orb, monitoring the large assault force that the Fragments were forming. He listened to Ironwoods plan, noting the several ups and flaws it possessed.

"Interesting, he seems to not be accounting for Long Night of Solace's ability to get involved. Surely he doesn't truly believe that the super carrier has left"

AnteBelle spoke to a green orb that floated beside him, his only companion, a digitized version of himself, forever immortal.

"For all we know, they might, according to the data from Jorge, the Inheritor expression goes, seeing is believing. It is age-old logic for them, perhaps still sound for the Fragments", the orb spoke.

"Ah yes, we have learned some rather… interesting things from our short snapshot into what became of our beloved Inheritors after our departure. Now the fun part is backtracking through history." AnteBelle teleported himself to the core of Remnant, looking upon the artificial core.

"That operation will take about two lunar cycles to complete fully, in the meantime, I am available to more processes", the orb spoke.

AnteBelle and the green orb teleported to a large hanger.

"Yes, please do tend to the prisoners of Ardent Prayer, and begin scrapping it from afar"

He looked upon the sleek covenant corvette Ardent Prayer, which Long Night of Solace was desperatly searching for, dwarfed by the otherwise empty hanger.

"Something very Forerunner is inside its hull"

AnteBelle teleported back to Remnant's control room, he had a very special Inheritor to keep track of.

* * *

A/N

If you couldn't tell by the title of the chapter, a Precursor has entered the playing field, his name AnteBelle, literally means, 'after the war'. The precursors are the creators of humanity (The Inheritors), the Forerunners, the Fragments (Remnant's native humanoids) and are directly responsible for The Flood.

This chapter is a little short, but hey, be patient. Chapter 6: Javelin will be around soon enough.

Cheers

-snipars


	6. Chapter 6: Javelin

A/N

Just to let you know, I write this author's note before I actually begin writing the chapter this is for, so we get to discover the story's evolution from a rough outline to a tangible string of events (YAY!).

This chapter is all about what most of you guys expect out of RWBY-meets-Halo, large explosions and constant action. Big experiment this chapter, action details, as I've been skimping on those.

Some scene-setting, some drama, lots of war, prepare your anus for Chapter 6: Javelin

* * *

Pyrrha sat aboard Ominous-5, her airship, the ground below her was melding into a snow covered soil, and large mountains loomed to her left, completely snow capped.

"Halt the airships, have the Y Fighter's move into a defensive position around us. Ground Ops, continue with the operation"

The 35 airships moved into a cube shape, their large guns facing out in all directions, ready to defend themselves if they were counter-attacked. 200 Y fighters began swarming around, not able to truly hover like a bullhead or airship.

The entire cluster of ships shook as 150 bullheads screamed by past the gathering, heading towards the pale blue dot in the distance.

Her comm came to life, Ironwood's shaky voice came through. Even from afar, he could feel the fear and tension that lay in preparation.

War.

"Charlie-5, Deploy the asset"

"Godspeed", Pyrrha whispered, as she watched the sky become alight with blue and green plasma.

* * *

Orion sat with his AR readied, standard issue upon conscription to the Atlas military. Knuckles white with anticipation, his heart leaped as he heard high-pitched whines outside the hull of the bullhead.

Orion's squad was here for one reason only, to assist the asset, simply known as 'Penny'.

Brief static distracted Orion from the dread he heard, the occasional thump gave way to a dull explosion, muffled by the hull. There was AA fire, and it could be us next any second.

His squad looked out into the airspace from the small view port, filled with a brilliant blue and green glow, eerie lights cast upon the sky.

"Deploy the asset" The general's voice patched through.

Looking at the girl-robot before him, de-activated, Orion reached for the control panel on her back. Penny 2.0 was a death machine, an improvement upon the original in the aspect of total free will, no fail safe. Once she was activated she stayed on until her destruction, and she was programmed with the same self-preservation survival instincts that we all have.

It was a one way street, but her sole purpose is to save the world, and that she excels at doing.

Orion reached over, grabbing the panel, when suddenly his world was ripped apart.

His eyes filled with a blinding blue, his ears popped and he felt something warm trickle down his face, some going into the crevice of his lips into his mouth. Blood.

Orion's vision returned to him in time to see Penny fall like a rock into water from the drop ship. His ears now screamed at him, he watched as the pilot flew past him, sucked out the large gash in the drop ship, his seat-belt the only thing keeping him and the other 5 men in Charlie-6 from suffering the same fate.

'Remember you're training, SitRep, plan, execute'.

The bullhead coasted into its apex, before sharply succumbing to gravity. Orion's stomach floated up into his nose as they free fell onto the battlefield. Wind rushing in sharply combined with the ringing in his ear was rendering his sense of hearing useless. He looked around, noticing his squad, frozen with fear and impending doom.

From the green-lined gash in the now-useless bullhead, he saw the ground spiraling towards them. A quick jolt shook the ship as the emergency thrusters on the belly of the aircraft, built specifically for this event, flared to life. It would not stop the fall, but it would make it more… survivable,

They had a chance after all.

"BRACE!" Orion yelled, as they slammed into the ground.

His stomach shot back down from his nose into his toes, and everything went black.

* * *

As Orion came about, the first thing he remembers was the crackle of something, combined with the smell of a seared meat.

Opening his eyes, he saw one of the bigger aliens burying one of those energy swords into a trooper nearby. Grabbing his AR, Orion quickly fed a clip into the alien's jowls. It keeled over, before collapsing on the ground dead, next to the trooper it had just slayed.

Pulling out his combat knife, Orion sawed at the seat belt restraining him, pulling himself out of the harness.

Quickly assessing himself, Orion came to the conclusion that the only injury he had sustained was the rupturing of his left ear, surprisingly, every other part of himself was fine.

'SitRep'

Orion looked upon those assigned to his command this morning, they were all slumped over in their harnesses.

Orion walked over quickly, checking their pulses individually. Of the five men, none were alive. This is war, good men die.

He quickly yanked off their dog tags, stowing them in his pocket. Looks like he was doing this alone.

Orion buried a fresh clip into his AR's action, cocking the action as it gave off a satisfying click, loading a round into a chamber.

'Plan'

Orion was the only one with the access code, the outcome of this battle was pivotal on Penny's involvement. Good men would die if he can't get to Penny and activate her.

Pulling out his scroll, Penny's location popped up, and her capsule was ½ a click from his current position.

'Execute'

Stepping over the blazing jet fuel of the destroyed bullhead, he walked over to the downed trooper, removing his dog tags, before popping the alien in the head once more for good measure.

Orion looked up the hill, and began his run up the hill, he crested the hill, looking upon part of the raging battle.

Two large bulbous platforms with guns extruding sat parallel to him, outside of the shimmering gloss of the faint energy shield that made up the dome. Those were the two AA's on the eastside of the dome, surveillance had shown there was two of these AA platforms to the north east south and west of the dome, and they needed to be taken out before the airships could punch through the shield. There were the two before him, still active, and one to the west that was yet to be destroyed. The rest had already been dealt with.

A short staccato punctuated by a deep bass gave way to a large plume of energized plasma from the western side of the dome, AA fire from that area ceased at once.

Never mind, these two AA platforms were the only ones left, and the crew was putting up a fierce fight, plasma and bullets respectively clouded the sky, as cries of war, human and otherwise overwhelmed his remaining ear.

Y fighter's started to move in from the west, but were cautious to not get with range of the still active AA's, now straining their barrels in case one of the Y fighter's strayed over the dome to punish it heavily.

Orion suddenly sank into the grey snow, his vision becoming patchy, for he was hyperventilating. Remember your training, remember your training.

'SitRep'

Seems like I have that covered, two active AA's, no air support, fierce firefight ongoing.

'Plan'

Request for suppressing fire through the center as he made a run for the capsule, there was no way to get through the skirmish otherwise, going around it was not an option, and they were being surrounded as there was no air support here.

'Execute'

Orion thumbed his helmet, the visor showing a static wave as he was patched through to echo-2's comm unit.

"Echo-2 this is Charlie-5, I need suppressing fire through the gap in the AA's so I can deploy the asset"

"That's a negative Charlie-5", came the reply, "We take our fire off of those rats' nests on the deck and we will all be fucked. Help us blow this thing and well give you any help you need"

Echo-2 was dug in at a sandbag enclosure 150 yards down the hill Orion was on, the dash to their position was going to be a dangerous one.

"Echo-2, this is Charlie-5, I'm going for it"

Orion rose from the grey snow, tarnished by all the soot and plasma residue, looking at Echo-2, Orion picked up his balls and went into a full dash.

* * *

'Rho was honestly surprised by the attack they had launched on the spire, which besides helping cloak his ship, was seismically scanning for the artifact and Ardent Prayer along with powering the construction of 'Ark's Super Scarab. He had ordered about 50 phantoms to go aide the fighting on the surface, he had to keep the spire active until the scan was complete.

However… Jeg-jeg zoomed in on a congregation of large airships inbound to the spire.

"Sir, there firepower is actually sufficient enough to bring down the shield and allow a unrestricted barrage on the spire. It would be destroyed in seconds. What's are action?"

'Rho smiled.

"Put on a light show"

* * *

For the first 100 yards, Orion was fine, the next 50 was a dance with life and death, as a sniper opened fire on the approaching soldier.

Peeeshhaaw!

A crisp line of blue energy zoomed past Orion's head, closer than the previous shots. He was slowly getting his bearings.

Orion went into a slide as another crisp line of energy bounded off the snow were milliseconds ago, his head was. Orion slid into a pile of sandbags about as tall as himself. Getting up on his knees, a man came to a knee next to him.

"That was pretty impressive son, now heres the plan, you and Thomas here is going to get their attention while we dash into there and set the charges, once this thing blows, you make your dash, understood?"

Orion nodded.

"Good, LET'S MOVE OUT"

Thomas stood and started firing his AR, Orion stood with him, finding where he was firing at. Seeing the bird aliens crouching down behind a purple barrier, Orion began laying suppressing fire as well, his energy-dust infused bullets traveling 6x faster than conventional rounds.

The rest of Echo-2 hopped the sandbags, making a dash for the large AA that towered closest to Orion, still firing desperately at the Y fighter's on the other side of the dome.

He heard the distinct crackle of an energy sword.

Orion swung around in time to see the squid alien burrowing his shoulder, preparing to impale the oblivious Thomas. Reacting quickly, Orion swung his gun into the alien's skull like a baseball bat with all his force, shattering its energy shields and stunning it. Before a second could be wasted, Orion pushed his combat knife roughly into the aliens neck, purple blood jutting out haphazardly as the creature gargled its life away. Orion's arm was covered in its purple blood, but he brought his AR back to his shoulder and continued firing, watching as the bird alien's head went up in a pale pink mist.

Orion's comm flared to life once more.

'Danger close!"

The rupturing of the AA was even bigger up close. Three staccatos thumbed from inside the AA, small burps of fire could be seen. Echo-2 jumped over the sandbags, landing next to Orion, tucking their knees and covering their ears. Orion decided to do the same.

A large heat wave hit Orion, even though the sandbags absorbed most of the blast.

Orion opened his eyes to see the squad leader motioning to him to run, everything was silent.

Grabbing his AR, Orion jumped the sandbags and ran in the general direction penny's capsule, the billowing smokescreen was almost impossible to see through.

The battlefield became a serene experience with only his sense of sight.

Despite the war, everything was at peace.

As Orion ran, the scene before him was like that of a painting. A large screen of smoke billowed from the stump that remained of the AA platform, blue energy jolting around haphazardly. Occasionally, a lazy ball of plasma would tuft its way through the smoke, or it would be quickly punctured by standard ballistics, trailing a ring of smoke behind it.

Much like emerging from the water of a poll, the sounds and smell of battle returned to Orion as he neared the capsule. Slowing to a jog in the billowing smoke screen, Orion began rapidly tapping the 14 digit access code into Penny's panel. +…W…K…L…q…r…R…4…%...2…2…F…c…K…3.

Hydraulics in the capsule gave way to steam, a large whoosh of energy escaped as penny rose, her leggings and eyes flickering to life.

Orion looked at Penny with a look of accomplishment and awe. He had just done the impossible, surely he would be awarded a medal for his actions. But, as is the nature of all good things, they come to an end, for in that moment, a covenant sniper caught sight of Orion, and loosened a beam of energy. Punching straight through Orion's brainstem, the quick pulse of energy left the world as quickly as it had come. Orion crumpled silently to the ground with a goofy smile on his face. No one remained or Charlie-5

* * *

"Don't worry…" Penny grabbed the dog tags from Orion's pocket and his own, stowing them in a compartment on her shin.

A sword swung from the small pack on her back, it launched towards the sniper with improbable speeds, punching through its gut on its entrance, and exiting through its heart before returning to Penny as quickly as it had come.

"I'm combat ready"

The rest of Penny's swords left her backpack. She arranged them into a circle, orbiting an invisible epicenter. Taking aim at the exposed core of the remaining AA platform, the swords began to spin faster. A red orb of energy sputtered into life in the center of the swords' orbit, as they spun faster, Penny pulled back, making the ball of energy grow faster. Reaching their climax, Penny punched her swords forward, the red ball of energy greedily shot into the core, rupturing it instantly.

"Danger Close" Penny smiled.

The platform went up in yet another billowing plume of energized plasma. Midnight black smoke billowed from the explosion, once again shrouding the area.

From across the dome, the Y Fighter's moved in, strafing the covenant entrenchments, peppering their positions brutally with machine gun fire.

Aiming her sword into the air, it shot up, tow cable in tow, attaching to a Y Fighter rounding around to the other side.

For a moment Penny stood motionless, then the cable pulled taut, and Penny was jerked off the ground with such force any other human would have been a goner. She was sailing through the air, among the chaos, the Y Fighter she was trailing behind was in a heated fight with the much nimbler Covenant Seraph. For what the Y Fighter lacked in speed compared to the Seraph, it made up in sheer firepower.

The Seraph before her rolled into a tight loop, quickly heading straight for the Y Fighter. It loosened several bolts of plasma, barely scratching the surface. The Y Fighter let a quick spurt of gunfire off, the fire dust-infused rounds melting straight through the Seraph's shielding and disintegrating most of the ship itself in a puff of purple shrapnel and plasma.

Penny, after being dragged through the debris field, disengaged the tow line. Going into a free-fall, a Phantom cruised by under her feet. Landing on it with a rough catch, she buried her cable-towing sword into the hull of the phantom, before leaping off yet again, arcing from the phantom into a graceful landing on the ground on the opposite side of the dome.

Anchoring her boots into the dirt, the line pulled taut and like a ball on a string, the phantom curved into the ground, pummeling itself to smithereens. Penny withdrew her sword as two phantoms pulled in from overhead, Elites and Grunts with fuel rod cannons quickly disembarked. At the same time however, Penny launched a sword into each phantom, and with herculean strength, jerked down on the cable, pulling the two phantoms into each other, crushing each instantly as they annihilated themselves against each other. The aliens opened fire, large bursts of green bio-plasma sped towards Penny. Flaring her aura, she brought her hands up quickly, pulling the two destroyed phantoms into the main area where the assailants had landed. The elites dove out of the way, the 20-odd grunts were not as lucky as the methane-breathing aliens were violently ended. Small thuds were heard underneath the rubble as the fuel rod cannon's fail safes activated. At this point, the fuel rods impacted with Penny, damaging her aura more than expected, she felt herself losing a grip on her aura. Auras are less inclined to stay attached to a synthetic organism, it had to be… persuaded. Reverting her processes back to the battle. She quickly spun her blades, like a boomerang, they hit every target before returning to her hands.

Penny quickly realized something was wrong, the covenant forces pulled back into the dome as the Airships approached. Perhaps they were getting to cover, but that did not seem to be there M.O…

Suddenly Long Night materialized over the battlefield, shrouding the ground in shade. The ship was massive on screen, but appeared even larger in the flesh, an uneasy silence befell the battlefield as even the once scurrying Y Fighter's went into a silent crawl around the spire, puppy guarding in case the retreating forces were to regroup and launch a counter-attack.

The airships grew louder in the distance, and the Y Fighter's began to clear away from the dome, for the Airships were preparing to fire. The main cannon functioned on lightning-dust infused rounds propelled from a rotating slingshot allowed large slugs to be fired continuously every half second, punishing any target.

The troopers began to cheer loudly as the first rounds began impacting the energy dome, which now began to morph into a pinkish tint as it started to give way to the force. It was evident that Long Night of Solace's re-appearance was not going to stop OPERATION: JAVELIN. However, two points along the bottom of LNoS's hull began to glow bright blue, a defining roar overtook the battlefield, punctuated by the steady thuds of the Airship's rounds chipping away at the energy barrier's strength.

The blue glow changed into an ominous red, and suddenly a brilliant line of plasma lanced out from the two points of LNoS's underside, utterly vaporizing the Airships. A large wave of boiling plasma mixed with Remnant's snowy surface kicked up, and a heatwave flashed across the battlefield, encapsulating penny, the Y Fighters, and the Spire. The beam of energy retracted, and when the dust and heat settled, the Y Fighters buzzed around, the pilots were at a loss.

Where the men stood, only glass and dust remained, were the airships stood, nothing remained The once snow-and soot covered ground was now completely barren rock and soil, vaporized snow filled the air with a steamy fog.

Penny knew that they had lost this battle, but perhaps she could turn it into a Pyrrhic victory. With a jolt of her boots, she ran towards the energy barrier.

* * *

A/N

So I'm kinda a jerk to these characters, my friend pointed out, but I wouldn't like it any other way. The story is starting to set itself, but there are STILL some characters that need to be introduced before I can dive into the full mix.

I love all your feedback, including the negative ones. However, if you're going to tell me I have poor writing, I would like some justification and steps I can take to improve, or those comments are useless to me.

Comedic Relief arrives in the form of a big Spartan stuck in a small bed with only his mind for reminiscence in Chapter 7: Flashbacks.


	7. Chapter 7: Breach

A/N

After realizing I'm not funny, I decided that it would be easier to lie and not do comedy than to make you all cringe at terrible jokes. So I decided to opt for a little backpedaling, filling in some gaps I left out.

Short chapter, but the poll I put up (Take it now if you have not already!) will determine the outcome of Act 1 finale. Also, is terrible when it comes to forgotten passwords.

Also, I limit myself to one f-bomb a chapter, I think that's within the teen rating, as that is also within PG-13 (one non-sex related use of the f-bomb)

Prepare for the finale(Long, action packed, and pivotal in the advancement of the story, Chapter 8 will be the conclusion of Act 1 of 3 of RWBY:Reach), which will be split into two parts, like a movie.

Here's to you, the good fellow who is taking time to read this, I enjoy you, but most importantly want to thank you.

* * *

Ruby had lied to Jorge, and it had caught him by surprise. Come to find out, he had needed no surgery at all, of any kind. The only reason he was here is because they feared "Traumatic Brain Injury". If only they knew the process it had taken to install his neural implant…

Regardless, Jorge was leaving tomorrow, whether by discharge or not, but for now, he agreed with the nurses.

It felt as if his brain was weighed down and was slowly draining something, but as quickly as they had faded, Jorge's memories came rushing back into existence. A step better than that, his head was clear for the first time since he landed on this rock.

The clock read 2108, Remnant operated on a 24-hour clock surprisingly. Jorge's memory faded into memories of his arrival, and his pillow invited to the big man.

Succumbing to his sleep, the Spartan did something that has not happened in years.

He dreamed

Jorge's consciousness floated backwards in time, arriving at the memory of Ren and Jorge in the airship.

"You're not from around here, are you"?

"I'm from Reach" Jorge responded.

"Come again?"

"So we are on Remnant you said, My AI says that the name matches no known human colonies in the UNSC"

"What is the UNSC?" Ren asked, face full of confusion.

"What is going on here"? Jorge, even more befuddled than Ren quietly cursed to himself.

"Let's slow it down a bit" Ren made quick circles with his hands, accentuating the point.

"You say you are from a place called Reach in the UNSC?"

'Correct"

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know how to handle this. Its not every day that you have a helpful alien crash into your planet."

Jorge sat calmly, Ren waited for Jorge to laugh, and it grew awkward as Jorge did not. In fact his expression had been like a stone slab, almost mechanical. The Spartan sat motionless, helmet resting in one hand, DMR in the other.

"I guess I am the alien… that certainly is new" Jorge said in a think Hungarian voice.

An uncomfortable atmosphere overcame the bay of the airship, the groaning of the steel cable broke the silence of the propulsion.

"So is that your ship?" Ren asked, glaring at the sleek violet covenant super-carrier, trying to grip the situation.

"No, that's the Covenant, they... destroy worlds. They've destroyed hundreds of them, and they might still be destroying mine right now"

"Reach?" Ren asked

Jorge visibly flinched, a rare display of Spartan emotion, confirming Ren's query.

"Yeah, that's why it's imperative I see your CO"

"Do you have anyone waiting around for you back on Reach?" Ren was derailing the conversation.

Fresh memories flooded his head, the relay station, sweeping Sword Base… detonating the slip space bomb.

"Just my brothers… Will I be seeing your Co…?" Jorge tried to get it back on track.

"Just my wife, and to answer your question, yeah, you can see Pyrrha. You know, my wife's a warrior, like me and you. I sure hope that whatever this is we can handle it."

Jorge was satisfied, having finally received an answer, but suddenly, Thom filled his vision.

"It's hard fighting alongside the people you care about, you can trust them with their lives, but losing them is more painful than any bullet wound." Jorge spoke solemnly.

"True, but we signed up for this. I like to think that we can rely on our abilities, that I will never be faced with the death of my wife, or my friends for that matter, but I just don't know if that is logical." Ren spoke, sitting down across from Jorge

That struck Jorge deep, he didn't sign up for this, it wasn't his moral obligation, his life and job was spoon-fed to him since as long as he could remember. The sad truth was that Jorge's very existence blurred the lines between human life and military hardware.

Red trees started to appear, a city sprung from the distance.

"Ah, we arrive" Ren murmured before resuming his talk, "I guess it would be nice to be the first to go, be blissfully unaware of what happens after I die. A beautiful ignorance"

With that, Jorge awoke with a start.

* * *

Ironwood was dumbfounded, he sat silently. His assault force had been reverse decimated. Not reduced by a factor of 10, but by a factor of 90. White noise consumed his brain, his ears burned bright red. Snot and tears mingled, gathering in the slight crevice of his ajar mouth. His mission control sat in dead silence. A single man arose from his chair.

There was a tap on his shoulder.

"Should we… the twins?"

"Give them the fucking spacecraft" Ironwood responded, his voice shaking furiously.

"And while you're at it, prepare a battle cluster of whatever we have left, split it into four, and assign it to guard the four main kingdoms. We are no longer on the attack now…" Ironwood stopped, as his voice was becoming incomprehensible due to his fury.

Collecting himself, he continued, clear and loud so everyone would hear his oration.

"The Grimm are nothing to us, it was just a matter of time before something else came along to put us back in our place. This is survival people, nothing more, nothing less…"

Ironwood fell silent, and paced out the room, murmuring one word to himself over and over. "Penny".

* * *

Melanie sat in the pilot seat of NMR-E1, an experimental space craft. About the size of a bullhead, but most of the mass was consumed by a massive cannon encased in an enormous drill. It looked so cartoony that it was a small wonder how it flew. That is, until they turned it on.

It ran off some stolen alien tech, propulsion engines and an energy cloak. It was surprisingly nimble, and it would need to be, if their plan was to succeed.

Miltiades, always the silent and cunning, had devised a plan so cunning it made no sense that no-one else had thought of it.

Ram the ship into the other big ship, rescue the sleaze Neptune before he squeals any valuable information, and bug out.

Melanie's sarcasm hurt, but with the amount of money being offered by Ironwood, the two twins could care less. They would be rich, and they could care less about the aliens, they would be soon dealt with.

They both wore midnight black stealth garb, Melanie's ornate combat heels replaced by combat boots sporting a wicked sleek blade running the heel up to the back of her calf. Miltiades red and black claws replaced by a more compact, yet somehow scarier, retractable option.

Finally getting all their pre-flight check-lists ready (and the payment paperwork) Miltiades reached over and paged Ironwood.

He answered, audibly shaken.

"I just lost my god-damn army, so I'm not in the mood for BS. Proceed with the mission as planned, but if you can assassinate the captain of that vessel while you're at it, ill multiply your pay times ten. I… don't fail."

Two quick clicks and the audio was cut.

Looks like their plan had changed, Ram the ship into the other big ship, rescue Neptune, and stab the hell out of whoever flew the ship.

"Miltiades, lets like get it going girl", Melanie chirped ecstatically, nodding curtly at her.

There was no question, they were going to get that bonus

* * *

AnteBelle levitated above the object, a small cube that could easily fit in his palm, but it was so much more.

It operated on neural physics, but was not Precursor or Inheritor. It was of Forerunner origin, yet it was familiar in a precursor manner.

A flash drive, and it held quadrillions of terabytes of knowledge about the forerunners, down to the minutia. A fragment of the Organon, a record of all that ever was created by the Precursors.

He went to place the device in a green stasis field, to begin downloading all the data, but instead of it orienting itself in the middle, it laid still, frozen in midair.

"Why has time stopped?"

Antebelle glanced over at his companion, a frozen message laid displayed in midair. Pyrrha, in dull green letters.

Antebelle willed himself to her location, appearing to find her ship half-way from being consumed by a roiling beam of plasma.

"Now this simply can't do can it"

Antebelle grabbed Pyrrha, and teleported back to his lair.

Time resumed, and Pyrrha looked upon the Precursor.

"By the Grimm…" she murmured.

"Back you go, child, we still have plans for you" Antebelle spoke in a singsong manner.

Antebelle snapped her fingers, and Pyrrha was laid upon a mound of vaporized soldiers upon the battlefield.

"Download complete, master", his companion spoke.

Big plans indeed. Antebelle's viewport now filled with all the history he needed on the Inheritors that Jorge was not able to give him, with a forerunner bias.

* * *

The NMR-3 accelerated faster than the two twins were expecting, in fact, they approached the ship so quickly that within seconds of lifting off the ground, the Long Night of Solace opened fire on the Naked Mole Rat. Searing lances of purple plasma etched the twin's vision, carving potential death into their brains. A bolt came dead for them, Melanie veered quickly. Lucky for the twins, the firing of the plasma lance had temporarily downed the titanic energy shielding LNoS possessed. The now sped towards the aft section of the belly.

"There is a ping, someone else is already inside that ship" Melanie spoke

"We can't let them get the 200 million before we do" Miltiades responded.

They neared the behemoth, the detail became evident.

"Brace!" Miltiades yelled.

A huge reverb grumbled through the ship as the cannon fired, the round tearing a large hole into the sleek purple hull. The now-circulating drill impacted, and the twins surged forward, pressing hard against their restraints. With haste, the drill labored into the hull, engines in full throttle giving it something to push off.

The engine gave way; reserving itself for departure. The drill, opened up into four prongs, spreading a gaping hole in LNoS. Atmosphere vented from the ship, expanding foam quickly sealed the space.

The NMR was brutally efficient.

Melanie and Miltiades disembarked, a dull silver corridor awaited. They stepped into it

"Miltia, I need you to stay behind and guard the-"

A large blue cloud of plasma engulfed the ground before them. The Naked Mole Rat crumbled away in its wake 3 Phantom Gunboats hovered. Without hesitation they opened fire. The two twins dove left, racing quickly down the corridor.

"Melanie that was our ride"

"Bitch I know, we'll wing it"

Turning a corner quickly, Melanie slammed into a hulking mass. Looking up, she saw an elite for her very first time.

The thing was massive, towering over her by a foot and a half. It reminded Melanie of a grey alligator. The elite roared a massive roar, its mouth splitting into four toothed mandibles. Melanie froze with terror. A crisp blue spark flared from the wrist as the elite reared its energy dagger for a thrust into Melanie's throat.

Miltiades leaped over Melanie's head, jabbing quickly forward as her claws sprang from her wrist, punching clean through the elite, killing it instantly.

"Melanie…"

"I'm sorry Miltia, I don't know what that was…I…"

"Well get it together, c'mon we got to go"

Miltiades swiftly pulled the blades from the elite's cranium, proceeding down the hall.

Truth be told, they had no idea where they were going. They were going to fight towards the bridge, which would be somewhere in the nose of the ship, take care of the captain, then from there, find Neptune and rescue them.

They moved quickly down the hall, a faint alarm blared all throughout it. They approached a door, a tri-tone rang out, and they slid open.

Lining the hall was about 30 soldiers, they opened fire without hesitation. Melanie dove left, Miltiades dove right, covered by the small wall created by the ajar door.

"Miltia!"

Miltiades smiled, bringing up a small blue orb and playfully tossing it in her hand.

"As soon as this thing goes off, charge" Miltiades responded, her sister visibly relaxed, then smiled.

Miltiades thumbed the plasma grenade, it became engulfed in latent blue plasma. With a quick flick of the wrist, she sent the grenade flying down the hall, which the aliens were now advancing down.

Gargled screams where heard followed by a blue discharge.

The twins twisted into the hall, running quickly. Miltiades punched low into the stomach of elite #1 and ducked down as Melanie jumped over her head, flutter-kicking her blade into elite #2, 3, and 4. Melanie, landing down in a crouch thrust her hands back. Miltiades ran forward, connecting with her sister, hands, who then flung her down the hall. Miltiades hands outstretched, she dragged her blades through elite #5-9 and Grunt #1-6. Nearing the floor, Miltiades tucked and rolled, springing upright as Melanie ran up. Jumping and twisting, Melanie jumped towards Miltiades back, who hunched over. Landing back to back, Miltiades began spinning down the hall, Melanie's legs a flurry of kicks and jabs.

They stopped their assault, every single alien hit the floor.

Brutal efficiency and unparalleled teamwork, the reason the twins were highly successful Mercenaries.

They grabbed the two nearest weapons as they exited the hallway, a plasma rifle and a needler, the latter until then not recognized by the two.

The slim hallway gave way to a massive atrium, banshees and phantoms ferried people and cargo inside its surface, and they then realized they were standing on a massive platform.

The door closed behind them, and there were no aircraft on the platform.

Suddenly, a phantom rose from underneath them, three guns swiveling towards the twins.

"Well Miltia… this sucks"

However, instead of opening fire, the phantom swiveled, revealing its long side to them, the bay door opened. Standing inside was four faces, Team RWBY.

"Don't ask questions, get in!"

* * *

Once again, I apologize for being gone so long, but I'm back now. Consider it an early Christmas Gift.

Act I Finale (First half) next chapter, and if I were you, I'd take the poll I posted, after all, it's YOU I aim to please, give it your input and you'll get out what you want.

Cheers,

Snipars


	8. Chapter 8: David and Goliath Part 1

No long author's note this time.

I present, Chapter 8 part1

* * *

Jeg-jeg trotted onto the bridge as fast as his grunt feet would allow, he carried a covenant holo-pad.

"Shipmaster Barutamee! Shipmaster Barutamee!" Jeg-jeg practically shouted over the bridge.

"What causes you your ceaseless stammering?" 'Rho spoke low and exasperated, obviously annoyed. He was focusing on his display, showing the aftermath of the ventral beam blast. The Spire still stood, but he needed to scuttle it. It would be absolutely unacceptable if someone were to board Long Night of Solace via the teleporter.

"We have a lock on Ardent Prayer!"

"WHAT!" 'Rho twisted quickly out of his swat, practically falling to the floor.

Walking quickly, he outstretched his hand, Jeg-jeg handed him the holo-pad. 'Rho scrolled over the data, obviously amazed.

"Interesting, it's subterranean… It is much easier to dig through ashes and bones than flesh and rock"

"You", 'Rho pointed at an Elite Major "Find the place known as Vale, isolate it. Gather all the dust you can from its surface. I leave this task to you to organize, do not fail me."

"Why don't you have your grunt do it" The elite sneered, the crew laughing quickly in response.

"Because I have much more important tasks planned for Jeg-jeg" 'Rho spoke, slowly pacing towards the elite who had just spoken against him.

"jeg-jeg has my blessing. Every major development so far has been due to his work, and almost his alone. So tell me, do you dare not believe in his capabilities, or mine as commander?"

"My grunt, as you so facetiously put it, is limited only by his race, and I am willing to overlook even that, because he has not yet failed me-"

"Atmospheric breach stern side, just south of the atrium. Sending a repair crew." An Elite minor spoke from his post, interrupting 'Rho, as he advanced the elite major.

"Wait" Jeg-jeg spoke.

Jeg-jeg hobbled over.

"Pull up surveillance"

The elite minor grumbled as he did so, revealing two girls leaving from a boarding craft.

"Blow up the ship, seal the hole with atmospheric foam, send a platoon down to deal with them" Jeg-jeg ordered.

'Rho was pleased.

"As I said, he has not failed me yet"

'Rho pulled his plasma pistol from his holster and pressed it to the back of the elite minor's head. A surprised 'wort' escaped his mandibles before 'Rho quickly pulled the trigger. The elite slumped over, dead. 'Rho marched over to the now cowering elite major, quickly flaring his energy sword, pressing it dangerously close to the elite's throat.

"Need I remind you what happens to those who fail me?" 'Rho pointed to a large ornate metal tube. Some kind of unique weapon, that no-one knows of its workings. Solely because those who do die at it's hands.

"No, shipmaster"

"Good, then see to it my task is complete" 'Rho deactivated his sword and returned to his seat.

"Fol", 'Rho gestured towards one of his high-ranking field commanders "Lead a strike force, destroy the spire. I'll arrange your extraction."

"It will be done" 'Fol walked off the bridge.

"Jeg-jeg, your task is to-"

'Ark busted onto the bridge.

"What now" 'Rho spoke, rubbing his temple.

"We have intruders"

"So I've been told" 'Rho said.

"No, not the boarders, four fighters entered from the spire. They escaped the invasion staging area, there where-about are currently unknown, shipmaster."

"Well then, isn't it clear what you must do, 'Ark"

'Ark stood confused, but then his face went straight. He flared his red energy sword and began walking off the bridge.

"This will be fun"

The bridge stood silent.

"Anyone else want to interrupt me, or can I finish my orders now!"

"No? Good, Jeg-jeg, Turn this orb to glass. It'll draw the boarders to the bridge as they'll try to stop it. Then, ill end their little escapade once and for all."

The bridge watches as six large beams of plasma began overtaking the kingdom known as Vacuo. 'Rho smiled.

* * *

The process to re-enter his MLJOLNIR armor was a lengthy one, and Nora understandably did not have any patience. From the window, you could see a thin blue line descending from the distant LNoS.

They were glassing Remnant.

The last component of his chest plate latched into place. Jorge grabbed his helmet and pulled it onto his head. It tugged at his ears the way it always does. He grabbed Thom's Retribution, swinging it over his shoulder, the latch finding its spot and locking into place.

What's the plan Nora?" Jorge was calm, focused.

"We need to stop the beam" Nora replied.

"Ironwood's mercenaries are supposed to be shutting it down via the bridge, we can join them" Jorge proposed.

"No, there has to be a faster way to stop the beam" Nora said, angered.

Jorge didn't have to think hard. Most covenant technology, the powerful stuff, ran off of plasma cores. The larger the device the larger the plasma core. So it was obvious, blow up the giant plasma core.

Jorge looked out at the bullhead parked outside.

"We're going to need a bigger boat"

Jorge gazed upon the bullpen, a beefed up version of the bullhead and wondered why they were not more widely used.

The bullpen was three times larger than the bullhead, but surprisingly housed less cargo space than the bullhead. It made up for this with its thick hull, powerful engines, and it was armed to the teeth with standard and dust-based weaponry. It would make Jorge's plan work nicely.

Jorge stopped gawking, and clipped the FIDDLE (Fire-Ice Dust-Driven Demolition Explosive), the equivalent of a tactical nuke, but it worked differently, according to the Atlas R&amp;D group. Nuclear fused fire-ice dust was activated, causing a destabilization, and within a minute of activation, sharp shards of ice expanded, piercing everything within a kilometer, then detonating in a huge explosion. It won't destroy the Long Night of Solace, but it would definitively destroy the ventral beams, and with any luck ground the LNoS.

The ramp lowered, Jorge walked on, grabbing a hanging bar.

"Punch it"

Nora obliged and the bullpen took off.

* * *

Melanie jumped aboard, her sister followed.

"What are you guys doing here?" Melanie spoke loftily, gave Yang an ugly look. Yang stuck her tongue out in response.

"We are here to get Neptune back, uh, Ironwood said to give you the comm if we ran across you" Ruby spoke, giving Yang a quick thump on the ear. Yang growled at Ruby as she handed Miltiades the comm unit, Melanie laughed smugly.

"Behave yourselves" Ruby said as the comm crackled to life.

"Melanie, Miltia, things have changed since we last spoke. Eliminate the pilot, your pay is still the same as it was updated to earlier. Just so you all know, Long Night of Solace has begun shooting their beam at Vacuo, the faster you do this the more lives you save."

The comm died.

"Guys we're almost to the platform" Blake spoke from the front of the ship, giving no time for the gravity of the situation to sink in. 'The door is still open, but we should probably disembark with a bit of haste"

"Weiss, would you mind-" Ruby began

"Already ahead of you" Weiss interrupted, launching a volley of ice shards from Myrtenaster. They impacted the outline of the sliding doors, freezing it open in place.

The phantom dipped down, the women disembarked as the ship slammed into the platform, four phantoms abruptly changed course and opened fire

"Shit!"

Hot plasma seared the air from the crash, then tufts of purple plasma began punching through the curtain of smoke left behind. They had been noticed.

"In the door, now" Ruby shouted

Team RWBY and M&amp;M ran through the door, Weiss flicked her rapier and the door sealed shut in a hurry.

They now stood in a hanger. Massive ships lined the walls, the number of ships in here had to be in the thousands. Yet, in the center of it all, there stood another spire. In contrast to the other room, there seemed to be no activity in here.

"They have more of those?" Blake said, defeated.

"Not for long" Yang hopped into one of the many banshees available and it quickly became evident she had no idea how to fly it as she laboriously trudged towards the spire.

The remaining women looked down at the massive drop. Ruby un-chambered a round from Crescent Rose and dropped it off the edge into the dull light to see how far down the floor was. There was no sound against the blue floor.

"It's a shield door, stuff goes right through" Ruby said

"Then I guess Yang has the right idea" Melanie said, smirking at the jagged trails of blue light she left as she clumsily piloted the craft.

"You guys know each other?" Blake said, amused

"You could say that" Melanie and Miltiades said in unison, sulking.

"C'mon" Ruby said quickly, jumping into the cockpit of the banshee, hers took off much smoother than Yang's.

The rest followed suit.

"Melanie, Miltia. You guys proceed forwards to the bridge, you guys should have no problem getting there. Yang and Blake, both of you go get one of those ships to our right, they're called seraphs. Jorge and Nora need you to clear an approach for them outside. After that assist them with what they need." Ruby came on through the comms system on their scrolls.

"What are they trying to do" Weiss responded.

"Not sure, but they were very specific about not being within a 3 kilometers of the prong of the ship" Ruby responded.

"Weiss and I will take out the spire, then get what we came here for" Ruby clicked the comms off.

Ruby watched as Blake and Yang peeled off to the right, then watched as M&amp;M punched it, heading for a large shield door ahead of them, leading into another room. That left just Weiss and Ruby, who now neared the spire.

"Do you know how to stop this thing?" Weiss asked concerned.

"Why don't we just jump?" Ruby teased back

"I'm getting to old for this"

"Oh shut the hell up Weiss, you're only 27"

Ruby aimed her banshee for the platform of the spire. Bracing herself, it grinded roughly into the hard light that composed the platform, Ruby quickly disembarked and it powered off.

"That was easy" Ruby brushed some soot off her combat skirt. "But where is Weiss?"

Two dull thuds from behind answered her questions.

"You got to learn to buckle your knees, Weiss" Ruby laughed, helping her friend up.

The duo stopped laughing, turning to look into the spire, there stood a large elite, clad in maroon and gold armor.

In one hand, he held an energy sword, the other was lifted high in the air, and an unconscious Neptune dangled from his grasp.

"Looking for something?" 'Ark said in perfect English. Dropping Neptune who hit the floor with a sick thump, crumbling into a heap. He kicked two metallic rods over to Weiss and Ruby.

"It was… comical watching the lot of you pilot the malfunctioning aircraft from the repair deck" 'Ark said, laughing in a string of worts.

"Your two friends you sent out of the ship should be dead by now, I personally saw to it a battle cluster was sent after them. And the other two the shipmaster will deal with. But you two girls, are mine" 'Ark said taunting.

'Ark stopped his laughing. He moved his sword over Neptune "Drop your weapons, kick them away, and activate the swords"

Ruby dropped Crescent Rose and kicked it out of view and reached down, it reminded her of a sword without a hilt. She thumbed it, a large clash of plasma shot out, forming two prongs.

Weiss refused, aiming Myrtenaster at 'Ark.

"Drop it snowflake, or I stab your mate" 'Ark said dangerously.

Weiss stood her ground, 'Ark stared at her hard.

"Weiss, we can take him" Ruby said

Weiss gave in, dropping Myrtenaster and kicking it out of view. The two girls advanced forward.

'Ark removed his sword from Neptune's throat and stepped forward.

Weiss looked ad Ruby, their eyes met. Ruby made a curt nod.

The elite pulled a second hilt from his belt, flaring to life a golden-red energy sword, dual wielding.

Ruby and Weiss ran forward, jumping into the air, blades outstretched.

'Ark followed suit.

* * *

The space surrounding the bullpen was a mixture of purple and blue light. It would be beautiful, except the fact that it was roiling plasma. Roiling plasma has a way of not being compatible with neither your ship nor your body.

"Bank left!" Jorge snapped quickly

Nora took the bullpen into a deep spin, dodging a large hail of plasma, 20 Seraphs zoomed overhead, beginning to turn for another strafe.

"No one likes a back-seat driver" Nora snapped in a sing-song manner.

Plasma began to lance underneath the bullpen. Nora pulled into a turn so tight it made Jorge wish he had chosen to sit down.

The seraphs were all lined up in front of her.

Target Lock

Nora pulled the trigger, a large canister shot out from the nose of the bullpen. It spun greedily towards the seraphs, before large bolts of energy lanced out from it, zigzagging from one seraph to another, 20 large pillows of plasma formed.

"Boom Shakalaka!" Nora smiled.

The smoke cleared and there were two seraphs sailing at her side. Turn to shoot on, the other got you.

Check-mate.

A phantom gunboat charged out from behind, firing its slow purple plasma at the bullpen.

The two seraphs at her side opened fire, the phantom exploded with just enough time for them to pass through unscathed.

Friendlies.

The large glow from the six ventral beams grew closer in their vision. Looking down you could see that Vacuo was basically erased.

Jorge clipped the jump jet to Nora's back plate, then secured his. The shield door was right above them. Nora hit the hatch, then left the controls.

"Jump now!" Jorge barked.

They boosted off of the bullpen, which quickly disappeared into the plasma blast.

The seraphs peeled up sharply, following them.

Jorge dug Thom's Retribution into the hull of the seraph, while Nora did the same 20 meters away on the other seraph.

They rose through the shield door, they were in. Looking up, Jorge could see the pulsating plasma core.

Every giant has a beating heart, and this was the heart of Long Night of Solace.

A swarm of banshees caught wind of their presence, and dove towards the ascending seraph fighters. They loosened a barrage of plasma and fuel rod fire, within the confines, there was no way of dodging.

Jorge pounded on the cockpit.

"Out! Out!"

Yang hopped out, Jorge grabbed her and jump-jetted behind the still-rising seraphs.

"Blake!" Yang Shouted.

They both watched in relief as Nora swung around the fighter, holding Blake in her grasp.

Jorge and Nora braced as the faster traveling plasma began to melt away at the seraphs shields. Once the fuel rods impacted the seraphs began to actually melt, but to no avail.

Only then did the banshees realize their mistake.

"Now" Jorge said, him and Nora both throttling their jump jets away from the seraphs.

The seraphs acted like bowling balls, the banshees didn't even stand a chance.

After the chaos cleared, there was no more opposition. Jorge and Nora pulsed their jump jets, travelling to the building that housed the core quickly in the low gravity of the behemoth half-dome.

Landing on the pad no enemies stood.

Easy enough.

The lone sliding door opened, there stood a gold-clad elite, backed by white Hunter Supremes.

"Stand down, Demon. Tell you disciples to do the same"

Jorge laughed, before turning to face the general. Un-holstering Thom's Retribution, it folded out into a large mini-gun.

"Listen here you little golden shit stain, I am a very big man with a very big gun. And if you think I've come all this way just to end up as one of your trophies, well. One of us is going to be very. God-damn. Disappointed."

Jorge opened fire, ice dust shards punched straight through the general, peppering the Hunter Supremes behind him. The hall was so cramped the hunter's couldn't raise their weapons.

Perhaps the general should have thought this through more.

* * *

Melanie stood splattered in purple and blue blood along with her sister. Melanie now held two energy swords, Miltiades was still trying to remove her gravity hammer from the sternum of a rather large ape-thing, one of the few brutes they had encountered.

An ornate sliding door sat before them. It opened.

There stood a hulking elite, in a dark rich gold armor, not the vibrant gold of the other elites they had fought through, and in his hands was something unique.

A gravity hammer, but a large swath of plasma covered it, giving it a sharp head, making it resemble a tactical axe. A large energy blade extended from the pommel.

"Looking for me?" 'Rho laughed

* * *

Ok, not to brag or anything, but I think I did a pretty good job with this first half of the chapter. This might be some of the most clear and concise writing I've done since Arrivals and Cloak and Dagger.

Also, it's all coming together, ha-ha!

I'm very excited for part two of this Act 1 finale, and I hope you are all exited as well.

As always, PLEASE leave reviews, and take the poll if you have not already.

And thanks to DownTownAlpha for reminding me about Melanie and Miltiades from RWBY. You helped me fix a plot-hole that was eating away at my soul :D

Cheers,

Snipars


	9. Chapter 8: David and Goliath Part 2

No fanfare, here's the finale for act I. Act II will start releasing whenever RWBY Volume 3 and Halo 5 releases.

* * *

Melanie leaped forward, spinning into a deep kick. 'Rho easily deflected as he brought the pommel of his energy hammer down, the spike narrowly missing Melanie's thigh. Miltiades quickly evaded, bringing the gravity hammer down onto 'Rho. 'Rho kicked out, pushing Melanie away as his energy hammer deftly screamed through the air.

'Rho was nimble, yet fought with power, not skill.

Melanie's hammer collided with the energy hammer, a huge concussive force of light and energy gave to an ephemeral blast of heat. 'Rho was braced, Miltiades was not. She flew far, impacting with the wall across the room, heavily burnt. He advanced towards the incapacitated Miltiades.

'Rho quickly raised his communicator and spoke, "'Fol, tell the crew to board Infinite Splendor, Blessed Immolation, and Righteous Sacrifice and set a perimeter around the ship. Put us on lockdown, anything leaves the ship, bring it down" 'Rho spoke, unfazed by the battle at hand.

Soon the whole populace would be outside the ship, however it may fall.

'Rho now reared his energy hammer. Melanie's footsteps grow from behind him, he smiled. Pivoting on his heel, 'Rho thrashed the hammer back at impossible speeds, impacting with Melanie's side. Cutting deep into the side of her stomach, she rag-dolled into the command console, blood jutting out along the way.

"Miltia!" Melanie screamed, quickly pressing her hands against the haphazard wound, her swords skittered to Miltiades. Miltiades dropped the hammer with a rough thump, flaring the two swords to life, harsh malice crackling to life.

"I always was more of a blade kind of gal" Miltiades said

"Blades make for the widest smiles", 'Rho quipped

"Yeah, well when your cut like god damn Swiss cheese, we'll see who has the biggest smile", Miltiades growled back.

'Rho huffed in frustration, he swiftly swung the energy hammer underhand, Miltiades easily parried, knocking the hammer to the side. She now arced forward maliciously towards the exposed 'Rho, thrusting an energy sword into 'Rho's stomach. It grinded brutally against 'Rho's energy shields briefly before he quickly flicked it away. Miltiades continued her advance, kicking forward to give her next swing more momentum.

'Rho grabbed her foot

"Enough, girl"

'Rho began flailing Miltiades, bashing her into the floor and the walls.

Across the room, Melanie inched herself towards an energy dagger.

'Rho looked over at a display, seeing Jorge opening fire in the Core room. 'Rho dropped a bloody Miltiades to the floor, clutching his stomach and activating his communicator

"'Ark, the demon is in the power core. Take care of him" 'Rho panted

Miltiades's face bled profusely, her body was limp. 'Rho brought his hammer up for the kill.

"What do you want with us? What do you want with this planet?" Miltiades coughed out.

'Rho began wheezing.

"Your fate was sealed the moment the demon touched the surface and you hid our ship. Now, we will grind you planet to dust and glass, then we will champion your surface. You will be nothing more than a forgotten remnant-"'Rho stopped mid-sentence, pressed into his kidney was an energy dagger. Or what would have been his kidney, the holographic-Hard light 'Rho shuttered off.

Melanie let out a surprised gasp.

Miltiades stumbled to her feet, hugging her sister intensely.

"Melanie, you're bleeding! We got to stop the bleeding. Lay down" Miltiades laid Melanie down, taking the energy dagger from her hand.

"On the count of three, one…two"

Miltiades looked down at the motionless Melanie, and slung her over her shoulder.

Melanie groaned, and Miltiades followed the trail of bodies she had left in their march to the bridge as they exited.

* * *

Ruby's sword collided with 'Ark first, he kicked up into her crotch, launching her up as he dragged his blade down towards the red woman. Ruby's aura quickly pulsed, and the blade was savagely deflected. Using the power from the deflection, 'Ark spun his arm, pivoting as he pulled the sword hard into Weiss's sword. They clashed loudly, but Weiss did not budge, much to the dismay of 'Ark.

These women are stronger than they look.

Weiss parried 'Ark's sword out, Ruby used this chance to bring her sword down on his exposed forearm. 'Ark's energy dagger sprang out as Ruby's sword impacted, harmlessly knocking 'Arks arm down.

'Ark was losing this fight.

'Ark roared quickly, punching out hard, the two women parried his sword inside of their bodies.

Finally. A chance to separate them.

'Ark arched his swords out brutally, colliding with the two women's auras. They flew to respective sides of the spire.

Rushing towards Ruby, he went into a slide, swords outstretched.

Suddenly she was gone from where she was standing, in her place was a floating cloud of rose petals.

Ruby kicked hard into 'Ark's back, he slammed into the purple wall with herculean force. His shields failed as his swords escaped his grasp.

Ruby grabbed his head and pulled him up, pressing the sword to his throat.

"What stops you from pulling the blade, women" 'Ark spat the words.

"Not much" Ruby replied "Weiss, go check Neptune!"

Weiss, now clutching Myrtenaster threw Ruby Crescent Rose as she ran over to Neptune's side.

"He lives, made it easier to get information out of him" 'Ark sneered.

"'Fol, the demon is in the power core room, take care of him" The speaker blared in sangheli language.

'Ark brought his gaze up to Ruby's, their eyes locked.

Chomp!

'Ark bit hard into Ruby's leg, she let out a large yelp of pain as she pulled the sword, only 'Ark's throat was no longer there. 'Ark elbowed Ruby in the face, Weiss turned to attack. 'Ark followed through by kicking Ruby into Weiss. They hit the ground.

'Ark mounted the dazed Weiss, raising his energy sword. 'Ark pushed down, but the blade didn't impact, Neptune had caught his arm by the elbow pocket.

"I don't think so" Neptune spat, his voice shaking with venom.

Neptune ripped the energy dagger from 'Arks gauntlet and with quick flares, stabbed 'Ark through the shoulders, hips, and the sternum, immobilizing him.

'Ark roared in pain, Neptune dragged him to the edge of the spire, then planted his foot firmly on the bloodied 'Ark. With an unceremonious shove, 'Ark dropped, free falling through the shield door and falling to his death via Remnant.

Ruby and Weiss approached, looking down towards the fireball that was 'Ark.

Weiss pulled Neptune into a deep hug, Ruby limped over to the Spire's controls. They were in hieroglyphs of some sort, she reckoned. No sure-fire way to deactivate the spire… unless. Her gaze drew up, towards the armored tethers, and energy cells.

"Weiss, Neptune, take those banshees and bail"

"We can't, look!" Weiss panicked. Ruby looked down through the floor and saw, outside the shield door, and saw a covenant vessel hovering there, not as large as LNoS, but obviously packing a punch. A corvette, Jorge had called it?

Ruby's scroll flared

* * *

The ship seemed dead, by Jorge's observations. No one rose in contest, he set to quickly rigging the FIDDLE to a plasma conduit. Nora, Blake, and Yang stood guard in a triangular fashion.

Everything about this screamed trap, but their position was already sealed.

Jorge's scroll flared to life, as did the Huntresses'. The comms flared

"This is General Ironwood, all signatures aboard Long Night of Solace be advised, two Corvette class cruisers and a Destroyer have jettisoned from designate Bay 3, they appear to be moving to gather angles on your positions. Ground-based munitions have been launche-"

Another voice cut in,

"It was a bloody decoy, god dammit! Everyone's gone, the ship is evacuated and the general was fake god dammi-"

"Miltiades, explain" Ironwood interjected.

"The general, he's not here!" Miltiades stammered

"Son of a bitch… REMAP is informing me they have a lock on a FIDDLE device aboard the ship, its set to detonate in ten minutes… mark. Get the hell off that thing!

Jorge looked at the FIDDLE, a faint pulse whirred on the inside.

"We need to Evac now, move out on me!" Jorge sprinted out of the core room, huntresses in tow. Jorge had to make it to the hanger, there lied was the only remote chance they had. Even then, with the perimeter set around the ship…

Everything clicked, Jorge understood 'Rho's plan now.

Jorge deftly activated his scroll. "This is Spartan Jorge-052, the ship isn't being scuttled, its being-"

Long Night of Solace creaked and groaned as it pitched down, thrusters activated, it began a suicidal dive towards Remnant.

"It's a kamikaze!"

"By god." Ironwood, flabbergasted continued "It's too early to say where it's aimed, but our best bet is 4 minutes before an impact. You're on your own now. May god help us."

Ruby's voice crackled into the comms.

"Jorge! Get to my location, on the spire!"

Pat marked a waypoint on Jorge's HUD, he quickly turned left rather than right as he approached a junction.

With a sudden pulse, the artificial gravity around the ship began to weaken. The air began to heat and Jorge new he didn't have much time, the walkway ended and they emerged into the atrium, looking across two phantoms were retreating, two squadrons of Elite Rangers hammering away at Ruby, Weiss, and a freed Neptune.

"We have to jump" Nora spoke, in a rather calm manner.

"That's crazy!" Yang complained.

'No, she's right," Jorge said "With the gravity failing we'll make it"

With a bound he soared.

* * *

Ruby was pinned, deadly plasma fire laced above her, and the Elites with the Jump jets were not giving her any space to work with. Ten feet to her left, Weiss and Neptune were in no better situation.

Neptune took a bolt to the forearm and collapsed in pain.

The Elite responsible drifted over, looking for his kill shot, neglecting Ruby.

With a quick crack of Crescent Rose she explained why that's a bad idea.

"Ruby, there's too many!" Weiss cracked, flicking Myrtenaster as a black glyph surrounded a Ranger, Reversing its gravity and rocketing it towards remnant.

A Ranger dropped from above Weiss, an energy dagger outstretched, Myrtenaster was outstretched further and the Elite went down.

Ruby heard a clunk behind her and was suddenly upheld.

WAM!

Ruby was thrown to the ground, she saw Jorge atop an elite, dagger poised for the kill. Nora, Yang and Blake skidded clumsily into the Spire, weapons blazing. Soon, no Rangers rose to challenge them, a phantom approached from the distance and the warriors drew into cover, ready for another fight.

The phantom drew next to the spire platform, and Miltiades jumped out, Melanie in hand. The now unpiloted phantom dropped to remnant.

Remnant was close now, the air heated even more.

Under the Hanger Bay door, Blessed Immolation drew beneath them, its ultra-heavy plasma lance spun up.

"We're out of time" Ruby shouted, "Grab something!"

The haphazard squadron obliged.

Crescent Rose slid into being, and with a deft swipe, the power conduit and the tether for the spire was severed. As power was lost, emergency barriers sealed the capsule building within, and the spire dropped.

Like a god hammering in a great nail, the spire dropped. The god being gravity, the great nail a million-ton covenant cloaking/FOB spire.

Blessed Immolation realized its mistake too late, and the spire punched clean through, destroying it instantly, leaving shattered nanomalite and brilliant plasma in its wake, small explosions shuddered the ship out of existence.

Team RWBY fell, from within all they could see was fire. And then everything went black and everything stopped. Nothing dared to move anymore as the world took a breath.

* * *

Mistral.

Long Night of Solace was aimed at Mistral, more specifically, Haven. There was no time to evacuate. No time to destroy it, nothing could be done.

Ironwood took a deep draught from his flask, and watched in silence as the impact occurred. A huge plume went up, and through its immediate wreckage the corvette and destroyer descended, standing watch over the char that was once both Long Night of Solace and the city of Haven.

It wasn't a last move, it was an opening salvo, and a beachhead had been established. All that had happened, the death and destruction, the war and the heroes, it wasn't far from over. They were here to stay, here to win, and extinction seemed less a punishment and more a release.

It was only beginning.

It had only just started.

Ironwood chugged the rest of the flask and reached for his spare.

* * *

Act II is going to be much better than Act I, believe that, thank you for sticking around, and thank you for checking me out. Peace

-Snipars

**This isn't part of the story obviously, I laughed at the ridiculous amount of things that fell out of the spire bay and thought of this**

* * *

Jimmy sat in his rocking chair, his cows in the pasture further out, shotgun in hand.

A faint worting sounded from above, the noise drew closer.

SPLAT!

A splattered elite lay some twenty meters out.

Jimmy shrugged, and spat his tobacco into his basin.

Luanne, looks like 'ye don't need to be cookin' none of me cattle tonight.

A huge explosion billowed in the distance, a colossal cloud of smoke impressed itself into the horizon.

"Slow cooked 'er grilled", Luanne replied.

"Neither, les' just fry it"


	10. ACT II Prologue

Vale was unrecognizable. City services had all but ceased. Tent cities covered where permanent architecture left off. Grass greyed from lack of water, the water was being rationed to the refugees instead. The refugees poured in by the hundreds every day, looking for some reprieve from covenant assault and the subsequent Grimm attacks. Great heroes rose in this effort, from sea captains tirelessly transporting the lost to ordinary men and women fighting and dying to keep the route to vale open. The world was out to kill them, but here in Vale, was where the people made their last stand.

Beacon had elected to continue, and huntsmen and huntresses continued their training, as well as after hour training for the citizen populace in general combat mechanics as to raise an effective militia. The Vytal festival coliseum floating silently over the city of Vale, packed to the brim with heavy artillery, continuous machine guns, and the omnipresent watch of vengeful snipers.

Beyond their floating watchman, and their walls, and the bitter angry inhabitants banding together in the face of two evils, there laid a new threat.

The council had subsequently had their leadership capabilities questioned after a generally poor reaction to the past month's events. They championed behind a new leader. As if all past events were cast aside in favor of tomorrow, Cinder Fall was on the rise again.

If Vale was where the people of Remnant were making their last stand, then Atlas was where the drive to reclaim expanded from. Aside from the protective forces in Vale, Military efforts radiated from here, small strike teams to massive deployments. REMAP was in control now, Remnant Emergency Military Alliance Protocol; spread throughout Atlas they fueled a war effort with new technologies, field Intel, and logistics needed to fight against the covenant. The Huntsman who were no longer training at Beacon, came to Atlas to lodge and stay sharp at the newly minted Flare Academy. Huntsmen were vital, the special forces of the war, and coupled with an Atlesian might, prospects for a long war were high, but not totally unwinnable.

* * *

The geography of Remnant was changed. Vacuo, after the glassing was The Charbroil, forest fires still raged through its jungles and the desert was a gritty texture of glass and stone and death. No life breathed here, even the Grimm dared only make few incursions into this forsaken place.

Mistral was The Shatter, the sprawling covenant presence entrenched here. It was as if Long Night of Solace had been partially rebuilt into something else, a massive covenant keep, and its influence has spread across the Mistrian continent as they staked a claim to their chunk of Remnant. Infinite Splendor and Righteous Sacrifice patrolled the continent, occasionally obliterating refugee camps moving to Vale with heavy plasma out of what is perceived as pure malice.

* * *

And then we have the little success story, Team RWBY, Team NP, two mercenaries and an traitorous alien super soldier. Managed to kill their way to a ship captain who wasn't really there and blow up a ship that was being slammed into the ground anyways.

No, the valor is there, but the success is not. They did do something useful however, something worthwhile.

Now we have two spires, with their teleportation capabilities in human and faunas hands. REMAP just has to get them to work.

Oh, and also find Jorge and bring him to justice, traitorous fool is no better than the covenant.


	11. Chapter 9: Remergence

**Flare Academy, Atlas**

Yang sat upon an unpacked box containing a bed frame. Her mattress opted to just lie on the floor, most of her room was either in a box or on the floor, she concluded when putting brief thought into the matter.

Sharp knocks rapped upon her door, and Ruby entered. She walked carefully through the labyrinth of boxes as the light dimly hampered her vision.

"Hey sis, was going to ask how the unpacking is going, but it seems that question kind of answered itself" Ruby chuckled awkwardly and handed a coffee thermos to a visibly exhausted Yang.

Yang looked at her sister, her throat creaked coarsely as her words found themselves

"Thank you" She croaked with the slightest smile.

"So, it really does look like he did it, doesn't it" Ruby said curtly, dismissing the elephant in the room.

Yang said nothing, but she kicked a box over from her seat, and out tumbled the crumpled and melted remains of Thom's Retribution. The sisters soaked into its appearance, once again its story infected them, its purpose seemed sinister, rather than the good it had been used for.

No one spoke, a steady hum from the heating unit strained to keep the world from absolute silence. Ruby took a seat on a box raised above the one Yang rested on.

"I can't sleep, Ruby, I… I" A tear slid down Yang's cheek, quickly and deftly as if it was trying to escape sight and never be noticed.

Ruby pulled her close into her chest, and Yang broke down, sobbing. Ruby just rocked back and forth as her shirt dampened, continuing for a long time.

"She's pulling through just fine, Blake's always been a tough one" Ruby consoled as the sobs lightened.

"She wouldn't be there, i-if it wasn't for me" Yang sobbed before composing herself into a sniffle.

"No, you can't blame yourself. There's no one to blame" Ruby comforted.

Ruby held Yang tight as the sniffling ceased, and Yang withdrew.

"I can barely throw a punch anymore, sis" Yang said quietly

"You can barely unpack a room anymore as well it would seem, let's get to work on that" Ruby replied, drawing a small smile from her sister. The two set to the task.

Ruby kicked the jagged scraps of Thom's Retribution out of sight.

* * *

Blake lay upon the sterile crisp bed in nothing but a medical gown. A respirator sat nearby, and the tube providing her oxygen was lodged uncomfortably in her throat.

Enter the sedatives, these damn sedatives.

In the moments Blake could regain her consciousness she swore her blood was more medicine than blood itself.

And she hated it.

But alas, the choice was not hers, and unfortunately it was probably necessary.

Blake had been caught in the the blast, and her lungs had been crisped along with most of her upper and lower back, shoulder blades, and lower neck. Her skin cells had been cultured to regrow the skin in these areas, but slight scarring was going to be forever visible.

Her lungs were a different story. Mistral biomedical technicians where growing her a new set of lungs, and she was bedridden in this cyborg state for the duration of the wait.

Blake was awake when Weiss entered the room. She held her hand out and a small frosty flower rose from the glyph in her palm, Weiss snatched it quickly and placed it in the vase alongside likewise flowers from her earlier visits.

Weiss scooted a small stool up and sat beside the bed. No words, no comfort, just her presence.

A doctor scooted in quickly, the door closed sharply behind him.

"Biotech is about two weeks out on our patient's lungs here, but she's stable, in fact we'll probably move her out of intensive care soon" The doctor said quickly catching Weiss's eyes.

"I'm just here to see the nurse" he said curtly, excusing himself into the next room.

The room returned to a still silence, Weiss sat straight.

Blake felt the shimmering cold sensation of Weiss's hand press into her palm, as her fingers burrowed under hers.

"Yang is worried, Ruby too of course, but you know, adjusting to life around here" Weiss began

"The atmosphere is so much more prevalent, people are scared, very scared. But there's also hope. I guess people are realizing we have a chance." Weiss continued

Weiss paused

"Yang would never believe it, and Ruby doesn't know enough but… Jorge didn't do it, did he" Weiss asked slow and cautiously.

The room stayed silent.

"I'm going out to find the answers we need, with or without your help Blake, now please…Squeeze my hand if Jorge is innocent"

Blake squeezed

"I had a feeling, there's old forces at play again Blake, maidens are rising, and the cycle continues… Winter has her team searching for Jorge but they'll never find him"

"My advantage however…" Weiss summoned a glyph and pulled out a depleted canister, the type containing emergency oxygen fastened to Jorge's chest piece, "I already have the clues. I leave in the morning."

Weiss walked to the door, opening it and stepping halfway out before continuing.

"I'm not telling you this just because you can't tell anyone else anyways, I'm telling you this because it's necessary. I want you, and you only to know, that this is on me, I'll make it right"

Weiss left the room quickly, and was only followed by the sound of retreating footsteps and the faint smell of a bog.

* * *

**Castaway Cay, Draco's Archipelago**

Steep cliffs, forgotten paths, tread your way. That's all the inscription said, carved unto the under-jaw or Jorge's helmet by a long forgotten name.

It had proven extremely correct in the days following the cataclysm, and now Jorge found his refuge in the sometimes-swampy mostly rocky cliffs of Draco's Archipelago, as he had gathered from a soot-ridden scroll from a long-abandoned logging company.

How long abandoned was this logging outpost? One could guess, but considering an rusting pallet, once having held a great stack of logs had decomposed, growing from the brackish rubble itself new trees well into adulthood casting shadows unto themselves; 50 years these trees had probably grown in the least.

And Jorge had found for good reason, the archipelago had earned its name. Sweeping patrols of dragon-like Grimm combed through hourly, attacking everything, some breathing ice and others fire. A hellish steam marked their recent kills, and little to nothing else.

Jorge's armor had suffered unto need to shed most of his armor, remaining in his Nano-Mesh under suit standard to all Spartan-II's, his grenadier boots and kneepads, his EVA shoulder pad on the right, and UA/Bracer gloves and wrist guards, and half of his Grenadier chest piece, the midsection dropped, leaving only the breastplate section that covered his upper back and shoulders which housed his on-board reactor and processing equipment.

Jorge clutched a hatchet he had found embedded into a log, having since sharpened it, awakening it from its slumber of rust.

Jorge took one look back at the relative safety the outpost had provided him before he slung a sack of foodstuffs over his shoulder, securing it in a brief manner, and marched away towards the source of noise that drew him away.

Gunfire

After he had killed Blake, Jorge had hopped into the Bullhead and nailed the accelerator, only to be clawed out the sky by the dragons. These Grimm were only comparable to such, Jorge couldn't help but remember the old knightly tales told by Deja and these were the beasts of their trials.

The gunfire grew louder, and with a sudden curiosity Jorge kicked himself into a sprint. The forest shook lose leaves as dull explosions began to thud against the backdrop of war, a sentenced punctuated by the ever-increasing gunfire. Jorge saw the tree-line ending ahead, and a steep drop to the ocean.

Jorge slowed his jog, grabbing a tree branch, he now stood atop a great sea-facing cliff, overlooking a beach that was a large expanse in its own right. Upon the white sands, a small squadron of Atlas military, backed by two bullheads, were engaged in a firefight with orbital-deployed Elites, the explosions Jorge heard having been the pods landing. Judging from the landing angle, almost horizontal to the beach, they had launched from far across the planet.

Despite this, the Atlas squadron was making short work of the elites, which gave Jorge a small measure of pride. A muffled sound came overhead head, a high whirr and Jorge instinctively shied away from the cliff edge.

A phantom roared over Jorge, not minding him as it continued towards the firefight. Shadow turrets began to pulse, but none connected with their target. The ionized plasma bursts simply re-directed and hit the sand before the squadron, turning the impact points into glass. Pyrrha descended the ramp of a bullhead and, palms outstretched, began to pull the phantom into the ground. The phantom realized its mistake as it tried to accelerate away, but it was too late and it slammed into the ground and jetted a large plume of plasma.

The initial shock wave caused Jorge to lose his balance, not used to being so light without most his armor. When the phantom detonated again, Jorge was nearly knocked unconscious as the shock wave brutalized Jorge against the edge of the cliff. His footing gave, and Jorge quickly buried his hatchet into a fallen timber.

Jorge now dangled over the cliff, looking down at the drop, some 400 feet onto a rocky outcropping. Jorge's hatchet began to loosen, and in that moment he heard one word shouted across the beach

By Pyrrha's voice, "traitor!"

* * *

Weiss heard Pyrrha yell, and quickly disembarked, rushing to her side. Weiss followed Pyrrha's eyes and saw a haggard figure dangling off a cliff. Jorge, after all this time.

Pyrrha quickly magnetized Jorge's armor and yanked him towards her, watching as he sailed from the far away cliff he had been situated on. Unnecessarily, she plowed Jorge through the sand and brought him to a rest before her, leveling her spear Milo to his heart

"No", screamed Weiss as she summoned a push glyph and kicked through it, throwing Pyrrha away from the unconscious Jorge.

"You can't kill him!"

The Atlas squadron advanced, unsure of what to do.

Pyrrha stood, her armor now speckled with sand.

"Pink squadron, your objective is complete, board Bullhead 13 and leave" Pyrrha spoke through grated teeth, glaring at Weiss.

They looked uncertain at Weiss who only nodded. They boarded a bullhead and departed for the rendezvous point, leaving the carnage behind.

As the engines faded into the distance, the only noise that overtook the beach was the burning phantom.

Finally, Weiss spoke. "Blake says he is innocent, is that not cause for at least a trial?"

"Weiss, you saw what he did to Blake, he cannot harm another. I won't allow it" Pyrrha steeled, strengthening her resolve and adopting a combat stance.

Weiss leveled Myrtenaster, "You can't kill him, not here, not now. He could be an asset yet. You know this. The thing that saved you knows this"

Pyrrha flinched visibly at mention of her vision, the creature that whisked her from the battlefield, how it was not a Grimm. Now there was only uncomfortable silence, and Pyrrha advanced towards Jorge from where she landed, before stopping a sword's length from Weiss.

"The only thing I know for certain, is that this alien fooled us all" With that Pyrrha swirled into a vicious kick, intent on crushing Jorge's skull.

Her foot made contact with a dome of ice and Myrtenaster slashed overhead. Pyrrha brought her shield up quickly and somersaulted away from Jorge, deftly blocking the strike. Pyrrha landed in a crouch as Weiss jumped over the hard ice that now shielded Jorge like a great dome. They circled each other, and a moment came where planning gave to action as Weiss summoned an anchoring glyph on Pyrrha's sword hand as she thrusted with her rapier. Pyrrha brought her shield into the strike, and the force pivoted her around the anchor, letting her mule-kick Weiss's chest as she hit the sand. The glyph gave away as her concentration broke, and Pyrrha brought Milo forth as a rifle and let her rifle crack as it chipped away at Jorge's ice barrier. Weiss rolled into the impact and landed on her feet and let loose three bolts of lightning that pushed Pyrrha's rifle away from its target.

Pyrrha turned now and rushed towards Weiss, sand kicking up with each powerful footstep. Weiss made a quick slash with her rapier and Ice exploded savagely from the sand, knocking Pyrrha into the air. Taking advantage of her cadence through the air, Pyrrha launched Milo, propelled by a rifle burst, towards Weiss's shoulder. Weiss pirouetted to the side and crouched as fire belched from Myrtenaster towards Pyrrha, who brought her shield underneath her feet and kicked down, serving to shield her from the scorching inferno and knock out its source. In that manner she succeeded as the shield impacted with Weiss and knocked her unconscious unto the sand. As Pyrrha landed she grabbed Milo and once again aimed at Jorge.

Or where Jorge should have been, only to discover that he had escaped his icy enclosure that Pyrrha intended to make his tomb. Then all she saw was stars.

Later, Jorge gingerly placed the unconscious Weiss and Pyrrha into the bullhead, along with their weapons and noting that the auto-rendezvous was still intact, set it to leave. Jorge stepped off and watched as the bullhead sped away. Grabbing a plasma rifle from a fallen elite, Jorge waited for a roar from the dragons, then trudged off in their direction. Redemption was at hand.

* * *

**Reflection Keep, The Shatter**

'Rho Barutamee walked steadily down the hall, followed by his billowing purple cloak as his gold armor shone defiance against the steely hues of covenant architecture. The hall gave to a glass bridge spanning the large Gorge. 'Rho came to a stop on the middle of the causeway and looked out at the progress.

Reflection keep, a two-fold name. Behind him the obliterated city sat crushed against the mountain that used to be Long Night of Solace. About a quarter of the ship had been repurposed into the sprawling keep below him, the Huragok hard at work. The crash had not been as deadly as expected to his crew, a great number thrived. Blessed Immolation was docked in the distance, and Infinite Splendor patrolled eastward.

'Rho, satisfied with the view of the massive and ever-expanding keep continued across the bridge and into a dark and dank structure, stepping into an energy elevator that shot him the near kilometer drop to the surface. Stepping onto a Phantom, they embarked to the mine that held so much interest to 'Rho.

Arriving, 'Rho stepped in and was greeted by Jeg-jeg.

Jeg-jeg began, "So the material is extremely volatile, and we've yet to get it to react the way they make it, but even so, we've coerced a reaction out of it, although… unintended"

"Jeg-jeg, you must explain yourself better than that", 'Rho responded impassively

"I think it's better if you see", Jeg-jeg responded as they stepped into the observation chamber. Through the energy shield 'Rho saw a machine below, and two skirmisher's fed a blood-red variant of the 'Dust' into its receptacle. Jeg-jeg nodded, and a skirmisher affixed a plasma rifle to the machine, before quickly removing it. Jeg-jeg worked to the console and the observation lowered to the ground and the shields flickered away, the skirmisher offered the plasma rifle to 'Rho

'Rho took it in hand, instead of its usual blue, it held a brilliant purple in its battery. 'Rho took aim at a energy shield and fired, a lanced red laser lashed forth, rather than the usual blue plasma discharge.

'Rho smiled, and continued, the pin-point accurate bolts travelling to their location instantaneously. Smiling, 'Rho turned the weapon on the skirmishers and soon they were both dead and charred, 'Rho was happy to note that the bolts expanded as they passed through flesh before internal heat melted their innards. Deadly indeed.

"Might I offer, master, that there are seemingly unlimited variants of their dust that all weaponize in different fashions" Jeg-jeg said, pleased that he would not be as the skirmishers now lay dead

'Rho threw his head back in laughter.

"Very good Jeg-jeg, very good. I retire to my quarters now" 'Rho handed the plasma rifle to Jeg-jeg,"Tell that flaming whelp I'll meet with her sunrise tomorrow."

"The Cinder one?" Jeg-jeg asked

"That's the one" 'Rho smiled


	12. Housekeeping Notice

****NOTICE****

I'm going to go back through the story so far and enrich it.

What this means to you

\- Better wordplay

\- Richer, better explained plot

\- More content

\- More content

\- Did I mention more content?

\- Layout Remodel

\- Dialogue tweaking

\- Correct 'unusual' Shangheli behaviors with the exception of one character

\- Correct covenant appearance within Act I to make them seem more effective and deadly rather than a Stormtrooper reskin

\- Remove those cringe-inducing author notes

\- Remove random/unnecessary swearing

The point of all this is mostly self-satisfaction. I see what I could have done better, and if I can change it, then why let it sit in its current subpar state. There's a lot of good feedback, and I owe it to both those and the others who have pointed out my problems. I will continue advancing the story, this whole maiden's business introduced in the newer episodes is having me hold off a bit, and this is just some housekeeping I wanted all of my readers to be aware of.

Cheers

-Snipars

-So they killed my magneto in the S3 Finale. I might go through and remove Pyrrha as I edit the story or I might find some way to reconcile it, I'm not sure yet. She was my favorite character.

*Chapter 1 finished

*Chapter 2 finished


End file.
